Kim Possible: Brood War
by Unheard Flipper
Summary: Ron and Kim are part of the UED offensive durring Brood War. Kim is a ghost and Ron is a UED prisoner for killing Erik, her lover, but when offered the chance to redeem himself he leaps at it, and finds himself back to back with Kim. Enjoy and R&R.
1. Prisoner

The Brood War: Prologue

**The Brood War:**_**Chapter 1: Prisoner**_

The walk down the barren hallway was silent; the only sounds came from the hard thumping of booted feet of the prison guards on the cold pavement floor. No words were spoken between the three of them, an unusual occurrence for Terran Marines. Normally the three would be making small talk, boast, or they would trade insults with each other. But not today; today they were taking a criminal to the execution area, a criminal whose actions against the Zerg, and the Terran Dominion they all had heard about and were in awe of, but orders where orders. Murder, Desertion, and Treason, had to be punished. The only punishment available to someone who had committed even one of these offences was death.

"Shit, ya think command would've been a bit more thankful to this guy." The man on the right exclaimed breaking the long uncomfortable silence.

The man on the left gave the speaker a smirk as he answered "Commands gotta make examples, ya let one go, ya gotta let them all go."

"Still ya think after Braxis, and Korhal, that they cut the poor bastard a bit of slack. Ya know throw him into a punishment battalion or stick him in a cell fer a couple of years."

The marine on the left was about to respond when the one in the middle cut him off.

"Would ya two shud up, I don't give a flyin' fuck what ya think of the son-of-bitch, or why his ass is here. Orders are orders, and in twenty minutes this guy gonna fry."

The two marines shrugged, and complied with the corporal's orders. They continued down the hall for another minute or so until they reached the cell. Opening the view point they saw that the prisoner was lying on his cot, reading. The man's long, shaggy, blonde hair touched his broad shoulders; he wore only the bottom part of his prison uniform showing of his chiseled chest that was flecked with numerous scars. His left shoulder supported a tattoo of the Star of David; and on his right fore-arm were his identification number, and the United Eath Diretorate insignia.

"Alright Stoppable, on yer feet, it's time."

The three men opened the prison door and walked in. Sergeant Major Ronald Dean Stoppable stood up closed his book and set on the table. The title was in plain view. The corporal glanced down to read the title but was surprised to see instead of English lettering their was instead what looked like several lines spelling out "תנ״ך"

"Alright boys cuff 'im."

While his two men went about the business of securing the prisoner, the corporal kept his weapon trained on him. The round that was loaded wouldn't kill anyone but it would knock him out for a good half an hour. Ron just smiled; his large ears and multiple freckles would have made the expression goofy if not for his cold, haunted brown eyes, and allowed the two marines to chain his hands and feet together. "Awe, come on dude, I'm not going anywhere." Ron's voice was surprisingly calm for some one who was about to be executed, "I mean even if I was to knock these two out, and avoid your shot at point-blank range, were the hell would I go?"

The corporal just shook his head. What the man had said made sense. Even if he did get out he would run into a prison full of well armed guards, but be that as it may, he still kept the weapon trained on him until his men had finished with the hand and foot cuffs.

"Alright, let's move out."

The two privates took position on either side of Ron, the corporal kept behind him as they moved down the silent hallway. The rhythmic thumbs of the marines booted feet were now accompanied by a steady jingle of chains, and the slap of bare feet.

"Dead man walking on the red line!"

Ron simply smiled as he turned his head to look at the corporal.

"Way to make the prisoner feel better there dude. Interrupting his silent prayers and personal thoughts with a statement like that. Where's the complaint box? I should defiantly inform the Warden about stuff like that."

The rest of the men ignored him, and continued down the hall. The walk went on for a few more minutes before the marine on the right broke the silence.

"I gotta ask ya somethin' there Stoppable, if ya don't mind."

"You want to know why I did it."

"Well yeah, I mean I heard what y'all did at Braxis, holding of that Zerg attack almost single handedly. And at Korhal you managed to evacuate an entire squad who was pined down by Dominion tank fire. A guy who's got the balls to do that, don't cut and run from his company like that without a good reason, let alone frag his captain and knock his LT. out."

Ron thought about his answer for a moment before stating simply "Men were dying, the captain believed in his own invincibility; I was just trying to save as many as I could, and if I had to do it all again, you can bet your ass I would."

The three marines looked at him for a minute, surprised by his answer. Then it was the corporal's voice broke the silence. "I don't get it"

Ron turned his head to look the man straight in his eyes. "With all do respect corporal, until your actually there I doubt you ever will."

The four men fell to silence once again, as they marched down the dimly lit hall. Rounding the corner that would take them down to the Execution room they were surprised to see their way blocked. Four men in the full steel grey battle armour of the UED, their weapons were held at the ready, their faces obscured by their visors.

"Halt! Where are you taking prisoner #357824?" The leader of the four men demanded, a slight sneer detectible only in his voice.

The corporal face was one of surprise, not only were UED men inside a restricted area, ordering his guards, but were actually wondering what was happening with a well known death row prisoner.

"This prisoner is scheduled for execution at 1300 hours, which I might add is in fifteen minutes. So if you would excuse us sergeant."

"Sorry corporal but we've got orders. Stoppable is to come with us."

"Whose orders?"

"Colonel Barkin's"

Ron gulped, what was Barkin doing here? The last time he had seen the man was after the hell hole that was Bunker Ridge. Barkin had threatened to shoot Ron right then and there for his actions. Fortunately for Ron however the Brigadier General believed in due process and restrained his subordinate, unfortunately Barkin sat as judge and jury for his trial.

"Fine then. We're turnin' over prisoner #357824: Sergeant Major Ronald Dean Stoppable to your custody. Looks like this is yer lucky day there Stoppable."

Ron paled with the thought of being turned over to Barkin's men. "I'll considered it my lucky day if you ignore the orders, and just take me to the chair." Ron exclaimed catching all seven men by surprise, "knowing Barkin he'll probably shoot out my knee caps then drop me off in some Korhal desert, or drop me into a pit full of hungry Zerglings, or worse, a pit full of starving and bad tempered monkeys!"

With that thought Ron visibly started to shudder. The other seven men turned to stare at him, this was the Hero of the Zerg Run? The Hero of Anders' Peril? Frightened by the mere thought of a monkey? A UED marine started snickering while the rest just stared at him.

Ron shrugged self-consciously. "Really bad childhood experience." He explained.

"How bad?"

"You really, really, don't want to know." And with that Ron fell silent on the issue.

The sergeant of the UED grabbed Ron by the shoulder and shoved him back down the hall from which he had just come. "You deserve all that and more, traitor." He stated hatefully, "I had a lot of friends who died on Bunker Ridge because you ran. Your lucky that the Colonel gonna get you, because if I had my way, you die slowly and painfully."

Several bloody and painful images flashed through Ron's mind, and for the second time that day he said a prayer hoping he would survive the encounter.

Their pace was much quicker then the guards, causing Ron to stumble often because of his chained feet. The group quickly reached their destination and Ron was roughly pushed inside. The hard shove caused him to over step and, because of the chains; he tripped, and crashed face first into the cold hard floor. Staggering to his feet he got a good look at the room he was in. There was little light provided by the flickering bulb which cast most of the room into shadows, only the desk and the two uncomfortable looking chairs, were illuminated.

_Shit, _he thought, _instead of having me executed, they lock me in the fucking interrogation room. _Taking a seat in one of the chairs, he fished in his pocket for his cigarettes, and lighter. Taking a deep drag he sat back, attempted to get comfortable, and waited for Colonel Barkin to make his grand appearance.

The door slammed open, signifying the arrival of Colonel Steven Barkin. A physically large and well built man, he made an impressive looking figure in his dark grey command uniform. His dark brown eyes narrowed hatefully when he looked at Ron, and he could tell that they were both thinking of the last time they had met. In the after math of Bunker Ridge.

_The smell of smoke, ash and death still hung in the air, even though the ragtag, group of survivors were a good three or four klicks away from the slaughtering grounds. The charred, brunt ground crunched under their armoured feet as the fifteen exhausted and battle weary men, moved towards the command center. Large explosions could still be heard, as wraith squadrons continued to bomb the ridge. _

_Ron's face was a mixture of sadness and exhaustion, as he shifted the unconscious form of his Lieutenant on his shoulder, in an attempt to make her more comfortable when she awoke. When they reached the camps perimeter, they found a platoon of marines waiting for them, and every single one of them had their weapon trained on the survivors. Ron slowly lowered his XO to the ground, while the others dropped their own rifles to the ground and raised their hands._

"_What the hell is going on here?" Ron demanded, the weariness replaced by a shuddering rage, "put those guns down, do you know where these men just came from?"_

"_Bunker Ridge." A cold voice answered him. Colonel Barkin approached the group; his expression a mixture of contempt and disgust, "we just got conformation that Company Kilo, Delta, and Echo where found, killed to a man, so the only way you boys could have survived, is if you deserted." Barkin turned and spat, as if to get some foul taste out of his mouth, before he continued, "your all God damn cowards and traitors, and as such I'm placing you all under arrest."_

"_Sir the decision was mine and my own, these men just followed my orders after the captain was killed, and the Lieutenant was knocked, out." His men looked at him, knowing that was false, he had asked them to follow him; he had asked the whole company of two-hundred men, saying he might not be able to save them from a dishonourable discharge and an execution, but he could save them from becoming Zerg fodder._

_Barkin stared at Ron for a moment. "So you admit to desertion and treason?" _

_Before Ron could reply a voice spoke out, "Not to mention… murder." Barkin's gaze shot down to the prone figure of the Lieutenant as she struggled to her feet, pushing her long auburn locks out of her eyes. Ron's face remained expressionless, while the platoon spoke softly with each other about the surprising information._

"_Murder?"_

"_Yes sir. He shot Erik… I mean Captain Wrungoyski, Sergeant Major Stoppable wanted to pull back, and regroup with the division, but… Wrungoyski refused saying the wraiths would arrive in time… They argued over it, Stoppable was saying that he was putting men's lives at needless risk… Erik said that the wraiths were fifteen minutes away… and that the forward base could be saved… the CO then gave Stoppable a direct order to hold… and then, he shot him." Fire danced in her emerald green eyes as she glared hatefully at Ron. It was apparent that had she possessed a weapon, death would be the only thing that would have stopped her from using it on him._

"_Is what Ghost Lieutenant Possible saying true, Stoppable?_

"_Every word, I won't deny anything. I fragged him."_

_Barkin had heard enough. Snarling in rage that this coward, that this traitor, that this pile of shit was still breathing, he reached for his pistol and was about to kill Ron when the Brigadier General, noticing the commotion. Stepped in and ordered a trial._

And now they were facing each other again. Only nine months had passed since his sentence, yet he could still see the rage and contempt in the man's eye when he looked towards him.

"Hey Colonel B, how've you been?" Ron smirked, knowing just how much Barkin hated that informal greeting.

"Stoppable, you'd think that being close to an execution would force some manners into you."

"Yeah, you would think, that wouldn't you." Ron smiled as the scowl on his former superior's face grew more pronounced. "I suppose that you're not dropping by to give me the good news, that I've been acquitted, and that I can rejoin my unit?" Barkin ignored the question and dropped a folder on to the table.

"How's Possible doing?" he asked genuinely concerned, "I did hit her over the head pretty hard, and I was thrown into this hole before hearing anything."

Barkin stared at Ron for a moment, considering whether to answer him or not. "Possible is fine, a couple of days spent in medic care had her up and fighting again in no time." Barkin then leaned towards Ron and smiled wickedly, "She's still pissed off at you, you know, for killing her lover, just last week she requested leave; my guess is she wanted to watch you fry."

Barkin watched as Ron shifted in his chair, fishing for another cigarette. Lighting it he looked straight into Barkin's eye. "I don't regret shooting him, not even for a moment."

Barkin stared at Ron for moment before finally getting down to the reason why he was here. "Stoppable, as much as I enjoy discussing your past behavior, I have other things to do today, all of which are much more pleasant then speaking with you, so I'm going to make this brief." Barkin opened the folder and took out a sheet of paper. "As much as I would like nothing more then to see you executed, the higher ups think that you may be… useful." Barkin spat the last word out, as though it was something foul tasting, "as such you can have a chance to pay restitution, for your crimes, if you can survive, that is."

Ron looked confusedly at Barkin "What do you mean?"

"Admiral Director has assembled a new elite task force, Task Force Golf Juliett. She has put together the best that the UED has to offer, to handle the jobs that others can't. Unfortunately she found your records, and decided that you would be good for the former XO's position."

Ron's eyes widened with surprise at what the man was telling him. A chance to get back into the war, a chance to redeem himself, for the men he couldn't save. Barkin continued, "How ever the Mortality rate is incredibly high, but if you survive, your crimes will be… forgotten." Ron glanced at Barkin again and saw the distaste as he said these words. "What do you say, Stoppable?"

"One word Colonel B, Booyah! I'm in"

"I guess some congratulations are in order… Lieutenant. Your dropship leaves for Braxis, in two hours, I suggest you get outfitted." Ron's lips cracked into the first real smile since Bunker Ridge.

"Who's the CO?"

Barkin gave Ron a knowing smirk. "A Ghost Captain has been placed in charge of the task force." Ron's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Coolio! Never had a Ghost as my CO before, who is he?" Barkin's look became annoyingly smug, as he gave the name. "Ghost Captain Kimberly Anne Possible."

Ron felt his mouth fall open, and his partly finished cigarette fell out of his mouth, and onto his unprotected foot. "Awe Shit." What had he gotten himself into.

* * *

Well here is my attempt at something I have yet to see. It is honour of the up and coming Starcraft 2, and also in honour of me seeing the cinimatic trailor for the first time. So please read and review. I love reviews like a fat kid loves chocolate cake.


	2. Reminiscence and Outfitting

**The Brood War:**_**Chapter 2:**_ _**Reminiscence and Outfitting**_

_She was there again; she could smell it, she could hear it, she could taste it. Bunker Ridge, it haunted her dreams often now, as it probably did for all the men who survived it. The sounds of rattling machine guns, the screams of men, the death cries of Zergs, the smell of burning gas and the taste of blood in the air. _

_Lieutenant Kim Possible, focused down her scope of her D-10 rifle, searching for a target, the massive Zerg swarm, which was attacking them offered many choices, but she would not waste ammo on Zerglings, or Hyrdalisk. The roar of a deadly Ultralisk solved her dilemma; whipping her rifle around to the north approach she spotted the charging behemoth. Its armoured hide reflecting the desperate fire of the Terran Marines, its four large bladed arms, sharp hooves, and massive size could caused even the most battle hardened marines to blanch. But she was no marine; she was Ghost Lieutenant Kim Possible, and she could do anything._

_Aiming at the only weakness that the beast presented, she calmed her breathing and squeezed the trigger. The slug exploded from the rifle and slammed straight into her target; the Ultralisk's eye. The beast head exploded in a shower of brains, bone and blood. The force of the bullet pitched the behemoth back down the hill, its massive body crushing the several Zerglings that had been following it. _

"_Nice shot there, Kim." The voice belonged to her boyfriend and lover, Captain Erik Wrungoyski. Though his face and voice were both obscured by his golden visor; she could still hear the love in his voice. "We might just make a marksman out of you yet." _

_Kim raised a slender eyebrow, and glared at him for a moment before responding. "We MIGHT make a MARKSMAN out of you yet?" Erik chuckled, as he leaned back against the trench wall, which they shared with forty other men. "Markswoman" he quickly conceded. _

_Standing up, he fired his weapon, in short burst into the mass of the insect-like Zerg, smiling when he heard the death scream of a Hyrdalisk. Ducking back down into the trench, as the Zerg let loose a hail of deadly Hyrdalisk spines. "Not bad yourself, I guess my skills are rubbing off on you there sir."_

_His response was cut off, when a man screamed in pain. Several Hyrdalisk spines had struck him in the upper chest, shredding his armour. A dirty and grime covered medic was quick to the scene as he hurriedly checked for vitals. Sadly shaking his head, he pulled the dead man's eyelids down, and rushed off to the next casualty. _

_Wiping the dirt and sweat from her eyes she sighted down her scope, and dropped another two Hyrdalisks, grinning in satisfaction as they collapsed to the blood soaked ground. "Damn it, they just keep coming!" Kim exclaimed, as she dropped back into the trench. _

_A loud rattling suddenly, drowned out the cries of the wounded and dying, as a machine gun team poured heavy fire down the slope, and into the mass of Zerg. She watched in fascination as the swarm folded underneath the hail of heavy caliber bullets, only to have more raced up to replace those that died._

_A marine suddenly leaped into the trench, landing beside her, with a heavy thud. His once grey battle armour was now covered in dirt, and blood. On his right shoulder just barley visible through the grime, were the red stripes, marking him as a Sergeant Major. His visor was flipped up, allowing her to view his soft, dark brown eyes, freckled cheeks, and the bangs of his unruly blond hair. While his C-14 Impaler gauss rifle, rested easily in his hands. _

"_Ma'am, were the hell is the captain?" the Sergeant Major screamed over the sounds of battle. _

"_Stoppable? What's going on?" Erik asked, as he stepped out from behind her. "Why aren't you with 3__rd__ squad?" _

_The man, who Erik called Stoppable, gave a quick salute before answering. "Sorry Sir, but I got bad news. What's ETA on air-support?" _

"_Fifteen minutes." _

"_Fuck!" Kim watched as the colour drained out of his face, "Sir we need to fall back, and regroup with the division!" _

_Erik turned and flipped his visor up, his face showing surprise at the suggestion. Even Kim gasped in surprise, she had heard of Stoppable's actions, during the Zerg Run, and Anders' Peril. This was not a man who would retreat because things looked grim. And things did look grim, they were out numbered, and were fighting a seemingly inexhaustible swarm of Zerg; but they were Company Kilo, they held the high ground, and air support was on its way "Companies Delta, and Echo guard our flanks, we hold a defensible position; this small top allows us to concentrate our fire. We can hold for fifteen minutes. Besides if we retreat now the Zerg will overrun the forward base."_

_Stoppable stared into Erik's hard eyes, before replying. "Sir, Delta, and Echo have been overrun; they were killed to a man."_

_Erik eyes widened in surprise, while Kim felt a wave of sadness overtake her. Two whole companies dead, killed to a man. She was a soldier, but no one can truly get used to the horrors of war. Especially when fighting enemies like the Zerg. Erik's voice however snapped her back into reality. "We can't loose that forward base; if we do it will set this campaign back another month. We need to hold!"_

_She watched as Stoppable's eyes widened in disbelief. "Sir the fucking base was lost when Echo was destroyed. The Zerg flanked our position. We need to fall back now!"_

_Kim and Erik both glanced at each other; the were both thinking the same thing, this was their chance to be heroes. The Company that held on to the Ridge, against all odds. "Air support is fifteen minutes away, we WILL HOLD Sergeant Major!"_

"_WE DON'T HAVE FUCKING FIFTEEN MINUTES!" Stoppable exclaimed, she could tell he was trying to keep the desperation from his voice, "We're lucky if we have five! Medical supplies are dwindling, and ammo is in short supply! We need to fall back and regroup!" _

_Erik's eyes became hard as granite, even Kim was disgusted at the man's apparent cowardliness. "Sergeant Major Stoppable, you are to regroup with 3__rd__ Squad and hold the western flank!"_

_Kim saw a flash of anger in the soft, brown eyes. "Sir you're going to get the men killed needlessly. We need…"_

"_That's enough, Sergeant Major!" Erik snapped, "Now I'm giving you a direct order to rejoin your squad and shore up the western flank!" With that Erik turned his back on his fuming subordinate. _

_Kim turned to face the ongoing battle when she heard Stoppable's icy reply. "I'm sorry sir, but for the men's sake, that's an order I can't follow" She fought the urge to turn back and look at the sniveling coward, figuring Erik would deal with him._

_Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Erik turn to face him. "Are you disobeying a direct or..." Erik was suddenly cut off, by a large bang. As Kim turned, she felt something warm and wet splatter on her. A slightly smoking weapon rested in Stoppable's hands. Laying before him was the prone body of Erik, his head missing, his blood soaking into the charred Earth._

_Kim felt her knees buckle and fold and she collapsed to the ground. "He's dead." Was the one thought that echoed through her mind, "He's dead, He's dead, He's dead. My love is dead. He killed him. He killed him." _

"_Lieutenant, Ma'am, Call the retreat, we can save these men, if you call the retreat now!" Stoppable's voice cut through her thoughts. "We need to fall back now!"_

"_You… you… You killed him, you son of a bitch… You killed my love." Her voice dripped with hatred. "He was getting men killed for no reason, but for his own personal glory. Now call the retreat." _

_She glared at him, what gall he had; trying to reason with her. But she was beyond reasoning with. "You killed him, You killed him, You killed him…I'LL KILL YOU!!" With that she raised her rifle, straight at Stoppable's head. She expected to feel the recoil of her rifle slam into her shoulder. She expected to see Stoppable's head explode, with the force of the round; she wanted to feel the splatter of his brains and blood._

_Instead, the stock of his weapon slammed into her gut, causing her to drop her weapon in surprise. The force of the blow caused her vision to narrow, as she struggled to stay conscious. Pain exploded in the back of her head, the sounds of gunfire, the screams of men dying, the roar of Zerg faded into the background. As she slowly slipped into unconsciousness, she heard Stoppable say "I'm sorry Lieutenant."_

Ghost Captain Kim Possible eyes snapped open, as she sat straight up on the uncomfortable army cot. It was that dream again, it still haunted her, as it probably did for all survivors of the Ridge. Shaking her head to dispel the lingering images, she glanced around her command tent. It was large, for an army field tent about the size of a small room, she kept nothing of value, save for a small picture of Erik, which rested on the small desk beside her cot.

Sighing sadly, as she looked at it, she couldn't help but think of the man who killed him, Ronald Stoppable. She still hated him, the death of Kilo, in her mind, was placed solely in his hands. She knew many officers and enlisted men believed the same, and yet others, who did not. The refusal of her requested leave still irritated her; she had wanted to watch that bastard fry for his crimes, but now it was too late, Stoppable was dead and buried. She felt a small token of comfort at the thought.

Changing into her full piece combat suit made of a heavy dark grey material and tying on her black combat boots, Kim pushed through the tents flaps and into the cold morning air of Braxis. Most of the camp was already awake. Soldiers were going about their duties, Goliath Pilots and Siege Tank Drivers were already working on their respective vehicles. The men were quite; rumors where flying around, about were they would be sent next. Char, the home world of the Zerg, needless to say they were scared. Or they would be if it wasn't for their Captain, they truly believed she could do anything.

* * *

The heavy steel doors slowly opened allowing Ron to view the well lit circular room. Stepping onto the cold metal floor, Ron glanced around. In the middle of the floor, surrounded by several machine like arms, was a steel grey pressure pad, shaped like the lower part of a boot. Moving towards the pad, Ron cringed at the sound of his still manacled hands and feet.

"_The bastards reinstate me, and they don't even remove the cuffs."_ Ron thought bitterly. Stepping on to the pressure pad he forced his foot down, allowing hearing the familiar click as it locked in place. Two claw like appendages came down from the ceiling and set a jolt of electricity into his hand cuffs, releasing them. Rubbing his wrist to get the feeling back in them, he felt the same done to his feet.

Suddenly the platform on which he stood was raised a few feet in the air, as two more machines grabbed his hands and lifted them up to shoulder height. The several previously inactive mechanical arms moved towards him. Ron smiled as the first two locked the chest frame into position, keeping his neck still as it was tightened. While this happened other arms fitted frames onto other aspects of his body, all the while, he tried to keep still as the arms fitted the armour platting and necessary mechanical parts on to his body. He could feel the heat from the torches as they welded the armour platting on. The gloves placed into his hands, he squeezed the sensitive pressure points, making the overlarge mechanical hand mimic his fingers, and wrist movement exactly.

Hearing the hiss of the lock cables as the disengaged he pulled is arms away from the two claws, and felt the pressure on his shoulders, as the pauldrons were fitted into place. Moving his arms and legs, Ron smiled too himself, it had been too long. He had almost forgotten what it had felt like to been in the steel grey battle armour of the UED Marines. Grabbing the rifle that was offered to him, his mouth split into another goofy grin, as he gripped it with both hands.

"Booyah!"

* * *

So here is chapter two. Read, and please Review. Oh and I don't own any of this stuff, I'm just borrowing it. And for thoughs of you waiting for Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? that is on hold due to lack of ideas, if you have any please advise.


	3. Reunions and War Plans

The Brood War: Chapter 3: Reunions

**The Brood War:**_ Chapter 3: Reunions, and War Plans _

The newly reinstated 1st Lieutenant's heavy booted feet, struck the cold pavement floor of the prison. The sharp strikes echoed through the dimly lit hallway. The light reflected dully off of Ron's dark, steel grey armour. His weapon had been magnetized to his back, and his cheerful, devil-may-care grin was gone; instead his mouth was a grim slash of determination. He would not fail this time; he would not allow a repeat of Bunker Ridge.

Though his face was impassive, Ron's mind was a whirlwind of thought. He knew that something was up. The grim presence in the colonel, made him realize that something big was about to happen. Ron however, kept his suspicions to himself, as they continued to march down the cold hallway that led to the prison's hanger.

As the pair rounded the corner that would lead down hanger's main hallway, Ron decided to break the long silence. "So sir, care to tell me what the hell is going on?" Ron's question echoed through the empty halls, "I know something big is happening sir, I can feel it. I just want to know what."

Colonel Barkin did not answer him right away. Instead he studied the Lieutenant out of the corner of his eye. It surprised him, how a short time ago he had met a man depressed and resigned to his fate. Now marching beside him, was a soldier, confident, and determined. He still had that sixth sense, the one that all true soldiers had, the one that told you when the shit was going to hit the fan. He could almost respect the man. Almost.

"Admiral DuGalle, in light of the recent set backs in apprehending Mengsk, has decided to take the fight straight to the Zerg."

Ron's eyes widened in surprise, capturing Mengsk had been one of DuGalle's most important tasks. If he was giving up on chasing down Mengsk, to fight the Zerg; then that could mean only one thing.

"We're invading Char."

Barkin's lips split into the cold smile that he was so well known for, as he nodded. "That's right Stoppable. DuGalle believes the time is right to secure this sector and finally bring it under the command of the UED." The grin widened, "in fact that's where your new unit is, and with its reputation, it will be right at the front." Barkin's cold, hard eyes unfocused as the Colonel slipped into a day dream.

_Most likely about me getting eviscerated, by some god damn Hydralisk, or torn apart by a fucking Zergling. _Ron thought bitterly, catching the look on his superiors face.

"What about Mengsk, his Terran Dominion? Have you captured him yet, or found out where he took off too?" Ron asked.

"They are no longer a threat." Barkin responded crisply, "Their capital of Korhal has been captured and occupied, as you well know, and several of its most populated and industrial planets are under UED control. As for Mengsk, he's on the run. After the debacle at Aiur, it was concluded that it would be too costly to go after him."

Ron glared at Barkin. The word "debacle" did not describe Aiur. _More like, more like a walk through the seventh layer of Hell. _"He's still a threat." Ron said, keeping his eyes forward and his anger out of his voice for; the causal way Barkin had spoken about Aiur.

"But a minor one. He's has little support and no where to set up or conduct an operation." Barkin contoured, "right now, he is nothing more than an annoyance, which in time; we will deal with, when the Zerg are under control."

"How can you be sure? He escaped with the Protoss, and they are more than a minor threat. Look what happened to the 37th Division!" Ron argued. He had a score to settle with Mengsk and the man who had helped him get away.

"Enough Stoppable. DuGalle has made his decision. We're going after the Zerg, no ifs, ands, or buts." Barkin snapped, ending the argument.

They both returned to silence as they entered the prison's hanger. The last time Ron had seen this room, he had been cuffed, chained, and under an escort of several guards. Now he entered the large, square room a free man, well as free as the army could allow you to be free.

The hanger looked the same as any other hanger, fuel barrels stacked and off to one side, the towering ceiling with built in rails allowing the half dozen cranes to move too where they were needed, and unlike the rest of the prison, the hanger was brightly lit, with powerful LED bulbs. Crew men were rushing about, servicing the nine large, grey, and bulky drop ships. Unloading the cargo areas, refueling the tanks, and seeing to the repairs on those that where needed.

Ron again decided to break the silence, and ask something that had been bothering him since the little disagreement back in the hanger hall. "I thought you said I was heading to Braxis, so how can I be at the front when I'm a couple dozen light years way?"

"You're headed to Braxis first, where you will rendezvous with several new squads and equipment, to reinforce Task Force Golf Juliett. Then you're off to Char." Barkin answered quickly, "arriving in time for the big push on the Overmind. Where, we can only hope, you will fall in glorious combat, dying for humanity, and Earth. Or, most likely you'll get fraged and command will chalk it up to friendly fire." He finished his small speech with a salute, an evil grin.

"Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence there Colonel B, I always knew I could count on you to inspire me." Ron's reply was dripping in sarcasm.

Again the two men lapsed into silence, as they approached the last drop ship. The crew hurriedly, making the final preflight check over. Several grey armoured marines stood off to the side talking among themselves, their weapons resting either in their hands or on their shoulders. When the Sergeant noticed the two officers, he quickly barked out an order and the men jumped to attention, and saluted.

"As you were." Barkin replied, as both he and Ron returned the salute. The men returned to their conversations as though nothing had happened.

"Well this is where we part ways Stoppable." Barkin said as he gestured to the drop ship in front of him, "I very much doubt we'll meet again, so do me a favour; and try to get killed in the most painful way possible."

Ron just grinned at the large man in front of him as he shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry there Colonel, I got two beautiful babes at home, and I'm not dying until I see them again."

Before Barkin replied the pilot yelled out that they were ready for lift off. Ron shrugged again and threw Barkin a hasty salute before joining the men running up the drop ship's ramp.

Pushing his weapon into the carrier beside his seat, Ron sat down, strapped himself and closed his visor, as he felt the ship take off. Smiling to himself he looked at the pictures that he had taped to the left and right corners of his HUD. One was a picture of his adopted sister, a small girl of Japanese decent, the other was his baby, his custom built Vulture XE9 motorcycle. He had poured two years into it spending every leave he received, working on it. He smiled at both of them, glad that the men could only see a golden visor in place of his face. _Soon, _he thought, _I will see you both again. _

* * *

Ghost Sergeant Yori Soruchi made her way hurriedly through the camp on Char. Her boots kicked up ash and loose pieces of brimstone as she made her way to the officers' mess. Her short black was flecked with grey from the ash that was constantly being spewed up from the planet's many active volcanoes. Her eyes never stopped moving as she scanned for her Captain, clutched in her hand was the latest dispatches from command, all were marked urgent.

As Yori marched quickly through the camp she realized how much she hated this planet, with the chocking ash, the constant smell of brimstone, and sulfur, the active volcanoes spewing ash and lava and, of course, the monstrous Zerg. If there was such a thing as an evil planet, this was it.

Men who knew her called out greetings, as she passed on her way to the mess, responding with a wave or a nod she continued down the line of tents and tarps. When she finally reached her destination, she pushed open the flaps of the tent without hesitation, and marched inside. Scanning around the room she found her. Her fiery red hair was impossible to miss.

Ghost Captain Kim Possible sat at the back of the mess discussing the Admiral's plan with one of her Second Lieutenants. So engrossed into the discussion that Kim didn't even notice Yori standing behind the 2nd LT. until she spoke, interrupting the unofficial briefing.

"Excuse me ma'am. But the dispatches have arrived."

Kim looked up and took the data pack as it was offered. "Thank you Yori, please join us."

"Thank you Possible-san, it would be my honour." Yori bowed as she took a seat beside the 2nd LT.

Kim quickly skimmed through the dispatches, a small frown beginning to show on her face. The more she read the more her frown grew, until finally, with an angry growl, she slammed it onto the table, causing her two subordinates to jump with surprise.

"Renton, Soruchi I need to talk to you in private." Kim barked at the two. Yori had served with Kim for only two weeks but she knew when she suddenly got serious something bad was either happening, or going to happen.

Yori looked over at the 2nd Lieutenant Felix Renton, who just shrugged as he made to stand on his weak, legs, incased by stabilizing braces. Though a cripple Felix was an impressive Goliath pilot, and a tough veteran of almost a dozen wars and rebellions. Following their Captain out of the mess, they watched as she barked orders to a marine then stormed to her command tent.

Entering the command tent they found Kim pouring over a holographic map of the area, muttering under her breath. After standing at the door way for two minutes Felix decided to break the silence. "You wanted to speak with us ma'am?"

Kim glanced up. "DuGalle has decided that tonight we make the push on the Overmind, and Task Force GJ is to lead the attack in breaking the outer defenses." She told them flatly. Watching as the two looked at each other in surprise she continued, "As such they're reinforcing us with two dozen new Goliaths, ten new siege tanks, and twenty-three marine squads."

Both were surprised. She was making a fuss over reinforcements, that most had to beg on their hands in knees to receive even a fraction of what her unit was getting outfitted with.

"Please forgive me ma'am, but I fail to see a problem. With the new men and equipment it will bring our number up to…"

"I know what it will do to our number." Kim snapped, cutting off Yori's timid interjection, "but these men are green. Their coming from Korhal, and other parts of the Dominion. These men aren't used to fighting Zerg. Their used to fighting other men. Men who think, feel, and fear like they do. They'll be slaughtered."

Kim placed her head into her hand and sighed before continuing. "Not only that, the refused my request to choose our new XO, and guess who they give me?" Both Felix and Yori shrugged. Kim glared at the two of them before tossing the file over to them "a previously inactive, newly promoted Sergeant Major!"

Kim was seething. How ever Felix, after flipping through the XO's records, found some good news. "It says here that the new XO fought at Braxis, Korhal, Tarsonis, and Aiur. Hell he seen more action than you there, ma'am." Felix thought it weird though that the file never mentioned the man's name.

Kim was about to reply, when a private burst into the meeting, throwing the officers a hasty salute, and apology. "Excuse me ma'am but command just radioed. We've got drop ships in bond with those reinforcements."

Kim glared at the man before sighing. "Private, gather the officers and have them meet at me in the command tent within the hour. Felix, Yori, lets go greet our reinforcements and our brand new XO." All three Voices rang out "YES MA'AM"

The trio made their way through the bustling camp, as men checked weapons, and other aspects of their gear, NCO shouted orders, and mechanics went over the final details of their machines. There was a subtle restlessness in the men. The men knew where they where headed, and so they all tried to make the best of their peaceful morning.

The LZ was hub of activity, as bulky drop ships landed and unloaded their cargos. Squads of men raced down the loading ramps, caring their weapons, kits, and crates of ammunition. While others offloaded; huge siege tanks, deadly Goliaths, medical supplies, food and other essential equipment.

Kim watched as the men went about their duties quickly and efficiently. Within half an hour a hundred and fifteen men, thirty-four vehicles had been offloaded and assigned to squads, while the six tones of supplies had been recorded and stored.

"Where is the new XO, Corporal?" Kim asked, catching the arm of the passing soldier. "Just gettin' off the western landin' pad there ma'am." He replied in a western drawl, gesturing, with a flick of his armoured hand. Nodding her thanks, Kim and her two subordinates marched off to the landing pad.

* * *

Ron watched through his visor as the three approached him, as he leaned against several stacked boxes of ammunition. _Well here goes nothing, _he thought to himself, _at least I get to die a free man instead of a condemned prisoner. _Straitening he snapped to attention when Kim approached him and crisply saluted her. "Captain Possible?" he asked

"That's right and this is 2nd Lieutenant Felix Renton, and this is Ghost Sergeant Yori Soruchi." She replied introducing the man and woman who had followed her, "and you are?"

Taking a deep breath, to calm himself, he saluted again before barking out his name and rank "1st Lieutenant Ronald Dean Stoppable, reporting for duty ma'am!"

* * *

Kim's eyes widened in surprises, for a moment, narrowing into a hate filled glare. She barley registered the surprise of Felix or Yori as her hand shot to her service pistol. Noticing this Felix grabbed her hand and held it firmly while Yori did the same to the other.

"You're supposed to be dead! They were going to execute you for what you did! Instead they make the XO of MY UNITE!" Kim's rant slowly dissolved into a mixture of curses and oaths as she desperately tried to get to her side weapon.

Eventually she was brought herself under control, and her arms where released. Breathing hard she shot all three of them a glare and marched off to the command tent; Renton shrugged apologetically at Ron and followed her.

"Wow, she's tweaked." Ron spoke allowed, to nobody in particular, as he raised his visor. "Still she took it better than I thought she would have. We had a bet going three to two odds that she would have gone for the knife first."

Yori looked at him, her face filled with contempt. "The only reason I stopped her because killing in cold blood would have soiled her honour. Even a man such as you."

"Honour? Let me tell you something about honour Sergeant. Honour gets men killed." Ron stated coolly, "there was no honour in standing and dying on that ridge. Honour comes from doing the right, thing even if it's the wrong thing to do. By killing Wrungoyski I saved the lives of fifteen men. So don't talk to me about honour."

With that being said Ron pushed past her and followed the same path that the two officers had recently taken.

Entering the command tent the first thing Ron saw was a hateful glare shot at him by his CO. Not making eye contact he marched into the occupied room and began studying the holo-map, while the nine junior officers wilted under their captain's glare.

"Now that our XO is here it's time to get to business." Kim pressed a button and the holo-map shifted showing a bird's eye view of the large mountainous area complete with several large Zerg hives forming a ring around a large mountain. "As you can see the Zerg outer defenses are extremely strong, so a frontal attack is out of the question. At least for now. However DuGalle has come up with a plan to crack the outer defenses and drive wedge straight to the Overmind." Kim paused to make sure she had every ones attention before she continued.

"We are currently sitting five klicks away from a large hive that acts as a hinge for the outer ring, here." Kim pressed another button and the holo-map shifted again, showing the large Zerg hive sitting at the exit of the canyon. "So if this hive is destroyed the other Cerebrates will send reinforcements to prevent us from breaking through, thus weakening one of the other hives. Allowing us to drive a wedge between them, and flank them."

"We can't kill the hive with our numbers; it would be suicide to try!" One of the Junior officers interjected.

"I know, we're not going to try and wipe out the base, with conventional weapons. Our brave XO here," She again shot Ron a withering glance, "will lead Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta companies to this point here." Kim pointed to a small rock outcrop, which glowed red, in the canyon, "Three miles out side the hive. A bombardment of the hive will force the Cerebrate to send its forces to crush the intruders. Mean while I will take Ghost Lieutenant Mankey, Ghost Sergeant Soruchi, and a squad of marines and circle around the hive and battle."

The map changed to show a green lit path traveling around the canyon, over very rough terrain.

"Once there we will paint the hive for a nuclear strike, after which I will give Stoppable the single to disengage and withdraw to the Safe Zone. The 74th Artillery will cover your retreat with a close bombardment so don't stop moving.

"Once the hive is nuclear waste, the Zerg will move it forces here to prevent the breakthrough. By then the 23rd and 31st armoured divisions will have been air dropped on the northern flank of the ring and have smashed through the defenses, giving us a shot at the Overmind."

"Playing decoy huh?" Ron's voice finally being heard, "just tell me how much time I got to get the men out of there?"

"You'll have fifteen minutes to get your asses out of there before the nuke hits. I'm sure you'll be able to make it. Especially considering you will probably be running back a good hour before I target the base."

Ron let the comment slide as he picked up his weapon and checked the barrel to make sure it was clear. Kim turned back to the assembled officers. "Any questions?" Silence, "good lets mount up and rollout. We got some Zerg ass to kick."

* * *

Hey all, sorry about the delay in getting Chapter 3 up, but here it is. Remember to leave a review. Seriously I love them even if you tell me that I'm a horrible writer killing both Kim Possible and our Beloved Starcraft. Also be sure to Read Mengsk's _Dark Reign_, and he may got off his butt and finish it


	4. The Roaring Thunder

Sorry for the wait. This chapter was extremly difficult to write. But now with out further ado, may I present **Kim Possible: Brood War**: Chapter Four. Ps. I recommend reading this while listening to Disturbed's Indestructible, Divide, Haunted, Inside the Fire, or Criminal. Or all of them at once.

* * *

**The Brood War:**_Chapter 4: The Roaring Thunder_

Kim looked out over the black, ash filled plains of Char. The camp behind them was deserted and quiet. The fourteen men, who she had handpicked for this mission, talked quietly among themselves as they checked their weaponry, and supplies. Kim looked down at her own weapon, studying the rows of marks that she had painted, in white, across the barrel, four-hundred forty-six. She had kept track of every kill, every victory. Often Kim would compare her record to others, she had yet to meet someone who could beat her score, being the best is what drove her.

Lost in thought, she turned back to the empty plains, as the thermal induced wind picked up blowing ash, and volcanic dust. Absent mindedly, Kim pulled her mask down, to protect her eyes from the black dust, as she continued to stare out into the wind swept plains.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Kim jumped in surprise, at the soft, calm voice of second Ghost Lieutenant, Joshua Mankey. Though a tall, thin, kind man, he cut a fearsome figure in the dark grey combat suit of the UED Ghosts. It didn't help that his spiky, bleached hair, and kind blue eyes, where covered with a balaclava, and his own mask. Kim had known him since her days in the Facility, and even had a brief relation ship with him. However they broke apart after a few months, but remained firm friends.

"I just don't like this; I don't like trusting my men to _him_." She replied, a hint of venom in her voice. "He cut and ran from Kilo, leaving the men to _die_ there, and he…"

"Killed the Captain." Josh finished for her. Kim turned away, to look back at the empty plains, now tinged in green. Small bits of data flashed over her HUD as it scanned the area.

"But I don't think you'll have too much to worry about there ma'am." Josh continued, "I may not know him personally, but Stoppable cares a lot about the men under him ma'am; that much I can tell."

This took Kim by surprise; she had assumed that Josh would be as untrusting, and as hostile as she was, but to find out that he trusted Stoppable with the lives of eight hundred men. "If he cared so much about his men, Josh, then why did he abandon the Company?" She asked him, barley keeping the angry snarl out of her voice, "face it Josh, the only man he's looking out for is himself."

"I met Stoppable once." A heavily accented voice broke in, "back on Braxis. I was on the medical convoy that came under attack by the Zerg. Stoppable held them off by himself, even though he was wounded too." Kim turned to glare at the marine that had just spoken out.

"Were you at Bunker Ridge, Travenkov?" She asked the Slav angrily, "Did you see the person you loved shot before your eyes, by that self-preserving bastard?"

Both men fell into silence at the out burst. They knew their captain saw the world in black and white. There was no grey in her mind, you either did the right thing, or you did the wrong thing, and once she set her mind on something arguing was useless.

Kim watched the two men walk away, talking softly to each other, before she turned her back to them. She was becoming anxious, pretty soon she would hear the sound of the bombardment, and the mission would begin. She was a woman of action, and sitting on her ass was not something that she enjoyed.

_Beep beep, beep beep_

Her HUD lit up with the words: INCOMING TRANSMITION. The bottom left corner opened up a view screen as the communication link was opened. "Captain Possible? I'm Major Wade Load." The face in the view screen surprised her. A young, chubby man, not much younger than her, in a dark grey Intelligence uniform sat amongst a large number of computers.

Despite the moment of surprise, she was soon all business. "What's the sitch sir?" Normally she liked being more professional around her superiors, but she had a good sense of people, and she could tell that the slang would go by unnoticed by him.

Sure enough the young African-American smiled. "Call me Wade, please. I don't out-rank you unless I touch down planet side." Wade shifted in his chair as he pressed some keys, "hold on a sec, let me patch through to your XO."

A couple of key strokes later, and a second view screen popped up beside the first one. Kim's eyes hardened when Lieutenant Stoppable's face appeared. Distantly she could hear men cursing, and grunting in the background, as they went about their duties as they set up a defensible position. "Sir, ma'am." Stoppable greeted both officers respectively.

Wade smiled as he leaned back in his chair. "Well introductions are needed so allow me to begin." Reaching over he took a long drink from a can before continuing, "I am Major Wade Load of UED Intelligence. I have been assigned by Admiral DuGalle, under the advisory of my superior, Admiral Director, to be your advisor and eye-in-the-sky. Also as I have said before unless I'm planet side or you are aboard the _Dawn Ascension_, I don't out rank either of you." With the introductions over Wade cracked his knuckles, before getting down to business.

"As your advisor, I will be in contact to update you with current reconnaissance, and new objectives. Part of the reason I called was to inform you Captain, that your primary and secondary routes to the target have been compromised."

"What happened? I was told that the area would be clear."

Wade's face cracked into an evil smile. "A Zerg Cerebrate became a little too… restless, and decided to make a preemptive strike against one of our regiments." Wade's grin turned into an evil chuckle, "the 232nd to be exact, the Mad Dogs."

Kim felt a wolfish smile tug at her own lips. The 232nd, under the command of Colonel Barkin were known for being… a little overenthusiastic, when it came to dealing with the Zerg. If they where lucky, the scavengers would find the battle grounds, covered in something a kin to shredded beef, by the time the Mad Dogs were done.

"Stupid bugs." Stoppable cut in, his own grin was filled with malice, "you would almost feel sorry for them. If they weren't so fucking ugly."

Wade nodded his agreement before returning to the subject at hand. "Fortunately, I've mapped out another route for you, it's a little longer, over rougher terrain, but its safer then going through the other two. I'm uploading it to your Heads-up-Display now."

He pressed a couple of keys, and the map that was on the lower right of her HUD was updated with the new route. As she looked it over, Wade continued his briefing with Stoppable. "The extra distance means your going to have to hold out longer then originally planed. I know its asking a lot but can you do it?"

Stoppable's face turned grim "We'll hold them off for as long as you need. Our defenses are almost complete, and our bombardment will begin shortly. Stoppable out."

"Stoppable, wait."

"Yes ma'am?"

Kim's eyes turned stone cold, as she glared at him. "If I find out that you took one step, even on single step off that battlefield, you're going to wish the Zerg got a hold of you by the time I'm finished."

He merely nodded at her icy threat, before his image vanished from her HUD. Wade looked at her for a few moments, before shaking his head sadly. "If you need anything else, just radio in. Wade out." The last video link shut down leaving her alone staring out into the plains once again.

There was a few minutes of silence, then the sound of distant thunder rolled up the canyon. Stoppable's bombardment had begun. She turned to find her squad already assembling, grabbing their gear, weapons, and ammunition. They stood hastily at attention as they awaited her orders. "Alright boys and girls lets move out!" Kim barked at the fourteen men of her squad, "Soruchi, you got point. Keep three hundred metres ahead."

"Of course Possible-san, it would be my honour." Yori replied, as she took off at a jog. Kim and the rest of the men followed her, as a great inhumane roar drowned out the thundering of Stoppable's guns. The men stopped for a moment as a shiver of fear ran down their spines. "Sounds like Stoppable must have hit the hornets nest." Kim thought aloud, "better hurry before he gets my men killed." Fifteen pairs of booted kicked up ash and dust as the squad made their way towards their target.

* * *

The Cerebrate, Thanzmoth was furious. The pathetic humans where attacking its Hive Cluster. Shells from their assault vehicles rained down upon its Brood, causing damage and death among his minions. That the worms had the gall to land on Char had angered him, but Daggoth's order forbade it from unleashing its wrath and destroying the Terrans.

Now, that the human's shells where landing in its Hive, Thanzmoth's wrath knew no bounds. It would unleash its Brood and wipe the Terrans off the face of the planet.

A shell fell out of the sky and collided with one of the many hives. A shower of blood exploded from the side; mingle the scent of blood with burnt flesh. Thanzmoth roared in anger. "Go, my minions, let the humans feel the wrath of the Swarm. Let them know fear as you crawl over their dead. Let the taste of their flesh feed your bellies and their blood slack your thirst!"

With another roar, that echoed in the confines of the canyon, the thousands of Zerg that where under the control of Thanzmoth where unleashed upon the foolish humans. Like a black tide they left their Hive Cluster to overwhelm the humans and make them pay for their transgression.

* * *

"No Renton!" Ron yelled over the sounds of the heavy cannons, firing 120mm shells, from behind the now fortified outcrop, into the target three miles away. "Keep your Goliaths back behind the second line. From there you can give us anti-air cover, and not get shredded by a swarm of Zerglings."

Renton's face, now covered by a breather mask, filled his communication screen. "Sir, if we put my Goliaths at the first line, we could hold the area, for a good while."

Ron took a drag on his cigarette before answering him. "I'm not planning on holding onto the first line for more then a couple of hours." Renton's eyes widened in surprise as Ron continued, "I want to delay the Zerg for as long as possible, but we can't hold them off forever, so…"

"We bleed them." Renton finished for him, "We make it harder to reach each line, while maximizing their casualties." Ron's trademark goofy grin became vicious, as he nodded. Renton nodded in response before terminating the communication and redeployed his forces.

Ron leaned back in the frontal trench, as he surveyed the outcrop. The men had dug trenches into the blackened rock that dominated Char, four long trench lines ran up the out crop from the along the base to the peak, constructed specifically so the one behind protected the one in front. While on the very peak of the rocky hill, giving them a dominating view of the battle field, prefabricated bunkers had been set up, camouflaged and fortified by the natural black rock of Char. Behind that, twenty siege tanks had transformed into large pieces of artillery, which fired continuously into the distant enemy.

Ron raised his head and spat out the remainder of his cigg, as a great roar drowned out the sound of the thundering cannons, men stopped and many visibly shuddered with fear.

"Here they come!" Ron shouted to the stupefied soldiers, "Get your asses in gear, Alpha, your with me, get to the frontline. Come on, move, move, move!" Men came alive, and began rushing about, leaping into trenches, gathering magazines, setting up machine guns.

The blackened plains where empty and still, the guns had ceased firing and a deathly silence fell across the trenches, as men nervously peeked over the rim. Ron marched up and down the trench, checking over the men. As he marched up the line, he noticed one man, not much older then nineteen; his rifle was shaking in his hands as he stared down its sights.

"Nervous there boy?" Ron asked him.

"No sir, I've been in battle before, I fought at Korhal."

Ron smiled at the young soldier. "It's okay to be scared when your fighting the Zerg." He slowly shook his head, "you see, Zerg don't fear, they don't think beyond killing. They won't stop trying to kill you until either, you kill it, or they kill you. Best advice I can give you is remember rules twelve and thirteen: If its not human kill it, and always make sure its dead."

One of the men looked up. "I thought that thems where rules fifteen an' sixteen?"

Ron smirked at the man who had spoken up. "No rule fifteen is always keep a good picture to help prevent boredom, and rule sixteen is never eat the rations until you know their safe. By watching the FNGs."

Several men snickered at the last one, they all had experiences with bad rations, and the unpleasant after effects.

It grew quiet again, as the tension weighed down on them all. Then the area grew dark, Ron glanced up and saw, to his horror, the forms of flying Zerg as they became visible against the ash filled sky. "Aw, shit, flyers inbound! OPEN FIRE!"

At the command, the whole hill exploded, as men fired their weapons into the swarm of Zerg, as they bared down on to the fortified outcrop.

Ron sealed his visor and allowed the HUD to start picking targets for him; he raised his rifle and selected his target. A Mutalisk that was starting to dive bomb the trench system. Ron raised his rifle and was about to squeeze the trigger, when it collided with a Hellfire missile. Ron watched in dismay as his target exploded in a mixture of fire, and guts. "Damn it." Ron swore allowed, "That one was mine!"

Renton's image suddenly filled the communication screen. "Sorry, Ron-man, but you know what the say, 'first come, first serve.'" With that said Renton's image vanished. Ron growled angrily as he brought his weapon up and squeezed the trigger, firing his rifle in a controlled burst. A Mutalisk's wing was shredded by the controlled fire; unable to stay airborne it slammed into the rocky ground with a sickening crunch.

The man beside Ron suddenly screamed in pain. A Glaive had buried itself into the chest, shredding the armour like parchment paper. Blood squirted out of the wound, splattering Ron with flecks and droplets. More Glaives slammed into the ground, as the Mutalisks continued to dive-bomb the entrenched men of the UED.

The recoil continued to slam into his shoulder, as Ron fired into the flying swarm of Zerg. Streaks of orange lit the sky, as Hellfire rockets launched by Renton's Goliaths decimated the Zerg flyers. All about him, men shouted orders, screamed in pain or death as the Glaives struck them, or yelled in excitement when their shots brought one down.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ron spotted three Mutalisks making a strafing run at the trench. Bringing his rifle up he let off a quick burst, the bullets struck the one in the middle sawing it almost in half, as it tumbled to the ground. Ron gritted his teeth as he fired another burst, the fire tearing the head of the second Mutalisk, as it fell to the ground in a shower of blood and brains.

_Last one_, Ron thought savagely, as he squeezed the trigger one more time.

_Click, click, click._

_Aw shit, I'm tapped out. _Ron quickly ejected the mag, and was about to reload, when he saw the Mutalisk release its Glaive. Ron watched in horror as the Glaive went straight for the young soldier he had spoken to, the one who he had given encouragement to. His mind flashed, and he saw It again. The Ridge, the sight of men from his company, dying. And he could do nothing to save them.

Before Ron knew what he was doing, he tackled the young soldier to the ground as the Glaive embedded it self, right where the boy's head had been. "Keep your God damn eyes open boy!" Ron barked at the kid as he helped him to his feet. "You'll get yourself killed if you don't."

The boy's face was white as he nodded. "Th… Th… Thank you sir."

Ron shook his head at the boy, as he finished loading his fresh clip into his gun. "No need to thank me, Private…"

"Henricks, sir!"

Ron nodded at the kid, as he turned around, and with another burst of fire, he brought down the Mutalisk that had just attempted to kill him and the private. Dimly Ron realized that the sounds of battle where growing dimmer, as the surviving Mutalisks fled the killing grounds. Already, medics where already descending onto the wounded, while the soldiers collected ammunition, and slid fresh mags into their weapons. "Is that it? Is that all you ugly bastards can throw at us huh?" Henricks screamed at the retreating forms of the Zerg.

He began to climb out of the trench, still yelling at them, trying to make up for his mistake, the one that had almost cost him and his CO their lives.

Ron turned around to see Henricks attempting to chase after the retreating forms. "You god damn idiot, get down!" Ron yelled at him, but it was too late.

"What's the matter you ugly fucks? Can't handle…" The rest of the sentence was cut off as three green barbs struck his chest. Henricks stared down at the oozing green spines, his face a picture of shock. Slowly his knees buckled and his body fell back into the trench.

Ron raised his head and saw the black tidal wave of Zerg moving towards the outcrop. For the second time that day the phrase "_Aw Shit_" crossed his mind. _Damn Cerebrate,_ Ron thought, _looks like it took the bait. That's got to be its entire Brood coming down on us!_

"AW FUCK, ALL UNITS OPEN UP. SEND THESE BASTARDS BACK TO HELL!" Ron screamed into his transmitter. The whole outcrop again lit up, as the men from Task Force GJ fired into the advancing horde of Zerg. "Thunder, fire on coordinates 0657214 Mike to 075241 Echo. Enemy in open, Fire for effect."

From behind the hill the row of siege tanks opened up, sending the sound of the thundering canons reverberating through the canyon once again. The shells struck the horde flinging pieces of Zerg everywhere, as the Brood continued to move forward.

Ron continued to fire into the horde as it advanced over the dead bodies of their kin. The Hydralisks fired their spines as they slithered forwards providing cover for the Zerglings as rushed in front of them, attempting to get to the trenches, only to get mauled by the heavy machine guns, and rifle fire of the UED.

Hundreds of Zerg where dying, but every man new they couldn't keep this up sooner or later they would be over run due to the massive amount of Zerg that where pushing towards them. _I hope Possible is having an easier time then we are_, Ron thought, as he took down a Hydralisk with a well placed shot in the mouth.

* * *

Kim pulled her self up the rope, as the squad scaled the large cliff that would lead them around to the Zerg's back door. For over three hours they had trudged along the route and had discovered nothing, not even a Zerg patrol. It looked like everything was going according to plan.

Pulling herself over the cliffs ledge, she sat down and wiped the dirt and grime from her face as she reached for her canteen. Hearing a small grunt, she watched as Mankey, pulled himself over the cliff, before reaching down and helping to pull the rest of the squad up.

"How much farther you think we got to go, ma'am?" Mankey asked, as he caught his breath.

"According to the map, another two klicks, and we should see the Hive."

Josh nodded, as he grabbed his own canteen and took a small sip. The rest of the squad followed their COs example, and slacked their own thirst. "Damn it." One marine cursed as he lowered his water, "water never really quenches your thirst, as well as an ice cold beer does."

The rest of the squad nodded, and chuckled in agreement, as they climbed to their feet to continue their long march. Dust and ash circled around their boots, as the marched over the blackened and jagged rocks that covered Char.

Kim was anxious, the plan was going to well, and they had not seen a single Zerg since the mission began. Her eyes never stopped scanning the plains; she knew that when the plan was going to well, there was bound to be a screw up in the near future.

"Possible-san, come in." Yori's face appeared on her communication screen.

"What is it Soruchi?"

"I've spotted a Zerg patrol, moving in from the east. They've stopped for the moment, but they could spot us if they continue." Yori's became filled with grim excitement, "should I handle them?"

"Negative, hold for now and wait for Mankey and I to join you." Yori nodded, as she terminated the view screen, "Travenkov, get the men to cover, Mankey your with me."

Before the men could answer her, she had taken off, running over the cliff top, her boots barely making a sound. A moment later Mankey had caught up to her as they ran towards Yori and the Zerg she had spotted.

"What kept you Possible-san?" Yori whispered, as the two crept up behind her. "I've been waiting for over a minute."

Kim smirked at her before lifting her head over the rock. Looking around she saw only one Hydralisk sitting there, its long dark body swerving, as it moved its large head from side to side. "I thought you said a patrol of Zerg, all I see is a Hydralisk."

"The rest moved on, back where they came from. I guess they left this one as a sentry." Yori peeked over the boulder that hid them from the beast. "Should I handle it?"

"No, this one is all mine." Kim replied as she drew the long knife sheathed on her shoulder. Activating her cloak she leapt over the boulder, and moved up towards the unsuspecting Zerg.

* * *

The Hydralisk's head snapped up as an unfamiliar scent became noticeable among the stench of brimstone. Looking about it could see nothing, shifting its head to try and get a better lock on the scent, it didn't even notice the shimmer until it was too late.

* * *

Kim leapt onto the back of the large beast, and wrapped her left arm around its neck, as the thing tried to toss her off. Holding on with her one arm she waited until the Hydralisk lifted one of its, scythe like arms.

Gritting her teeth she brought her knife up and slammed it into the unprotected side of the bucking Hydralisk. Blood gushed out of the wounded, as the Zerg roared in anger and pain. Leaping off its back, Kim rolled and jumped to her feet, before rushing at the now thoroughly pissed off insect.

The Hydralisk began swinging its claws around, trying to kill its unseen attacker. Ducking under a sweeping claw Kim grabbed the head and slammed the knife into the lower jaw. Pulling it out she slammed it in again, making sure it went in to the hilt, where it could pierce the brain.

The Hydralisk went limp, and collapsed in a heap as Kim deactivated her cloak. The squad had already regrouped and where looking at her in awe. "No big." Kim said to her squad, as she shrugged self-consciously.

With that the squad moved out, not aware that below the surface, they where being followed.

* * *

Okay explanation time, I've been asked a few questions regarding this story, so I decided to answer those commonly asked questions.

First: Why the UED?

Well I got three reasons for that. First, I thought that originating this story in the Koprulu Sector, making a "Kim Kerrigan" and "Ron Raynor" storyline was just too obvious. My second reason is I wanted this to be tragic and what's more tragic then watching everything you worked for, slip through your fingers? And finally, because my favourite campaign is the UED, don't ask me why, it just is.

Second question: Why is Ron OOC?

Simple Ron went through Hell, he watched as his entire company died, and he could do nothing to save them. Ron is amazingly loyal, so to watch that, would tear him apart. That and the fact that he was almost executed for saving his men caused him to rethink and reevaluate his sitch. As you can see I tried to keep his goofiness but I tried to make his jokes and quips darker and more cynical.

Third Question: Pairings?

Honestly I have no idea, I write this shit as it comes to me.

Now I have a question for you: What would you think if I made a series out of this? Several one-shots about the characters, maybe even a prequel staring Ron?

Alright that's it so read review and enjoy. Or I will, in the words of the great poet, Philip Clyde, "I'm going to kill you, then I'm going to drain all your blood, take out your bones, put your body in a big chair with some elves and reindeer, and sit on your lap and tell you all the cool shit I want for Christmas."

GNK


	5. The Artificial Dawn

**The Brood War:**_Chapter 5: The Artificial Dawn_

Ron could feel the blood pounding in his ears, as the whistling of artillery, the explosion of the shells, the rattling of machine gun fire, the cries of the wounded, the scrams dying, mingled with the roar of the Zerg, creating a hellish symphony. Despite the massive amount of fire power that Task Force GJ poured into the horde of the insects, the Zerg continued to advance. Crawling, over the bodies of their dead, they continued forward, like a black tidal wave.

As Ron drowned out the sounds of the battle, focusing only on the Zerg that filled his rifle's sights, on the recoil that drove into his shoulder, as his weapon sprayed armour piercing rounds into the horde of advancing insects. Ron knew that Alpha's position was lost. They wouldn't be able to hold them off for much longer, the call would have to be made.

"ULTRALISK! ULTRALISK!"

The desperate cries of marines caused Ron to shift his focus from the horde of Zerglings, and Hydralisks, to the distant shape of the charging behemoth. There was no way the flank would hold if the beast broke through into the trenches, the men would be slaughtered.

Ron raced down the trench, dodging between the men; as they poured fire into the unstoppable tide of Zerg. A marine stumbled in front of Ron, his gold coloured visor pierced by a Hydralisk spine. Blood sprayed from the wound, and his rifle sprayed bullets into black, ash choked sky, as the dead marine's fingers clenched in his death throes.

Ron did not stop, the marine was dead, nothing could be done for him. He leapt over the prone body. _Just another corpse, just another fatality to add to this war. _Ron thought to himself, his eye catching the small photograph in his visor. _Another corpse who had a family, who had a home, a life in front of him. _

His mind eye flashed and, for a moment, he saw the dead. _They marched in uniformed rows, silently. Their boots made no sound, as they struck the cold, hard ground. Their blank, pale faces stared at Ron with vacant hollow eyes, as they filed past him. Marines and Firebats, Goliath pilots and Siege Tank crews, all of them stared at him, accusing him, as they continued their silent march. _

_A figure rose up behind him, Ron turned around quickly to face the figure only to take a step backwards in surprise. The figure, unlike the others, was headless, its grey armour stained in its blood. Slowly it lifted its arm out towards the surprised Lieutenant. _

_Ron's eyes widened in surprise as he felt himself take another step back. There clutched in its hands was the head of Captain Erik Wrungoyski, a malevolent smile spread on its lips as it began to speak in a soft, deadly whisper. "You did this to us, Ronald Dean Stoppable. You killed us." Ron felt the ground crumble beneath him as he fell screaming into a dark abyss._

Ron was jarred back into reality when he landed with a heavy thump, the dust swirling around his armoured boots. His breath came to him in ragged gasps as he shook his head in an attempt to dissipate the lingering, and haunting images from his mind.

Climbing back to his feet, Ron again raced off down the trench. He would not fail these men, he couldn't, he wouldn't, no matter how low their opinions of him where, he would save as many as he could, and see them all home.

A group of soldiers huddled by the trench wall, taking turns of firing over the lip of the trench. In the distance, Ron could see the hulking shape of the Ultralisk closing in on the trench's flank. He knew he would never get there in time; he had to lure the beast away and towards him.

As one of the marines, leapt up and fired a burst of rounds into the Zerg lines, Ron noticed that strapped to the marines back was a C-22 Anti-Vehicle missile launcher. With out thinking Ron raced over to the marine

"Corporal, use that C-22, take out that Ultralisk!"

The marine nodded as he slung the heavy weapon from his back, standing up, the marine locked onto the distance target and fired. The missile shot off, in a burst of red and yellow, and rocketed straight for the target. Ron watched, with something a kin to glee, as the projectile slammed into the armoured hide of the Ultralisk, and exploded.

Ron's smile vanished, however, as the distant roar of a now thoroughly, pissed off Ultralisk, burst through the smoke and dust of the explosion, and charged straight at them.

"Awww Shit! Hurry up! Load another! Load another!" A panicked marine screamed at the reloading corporal.

"I can't! The Goddamn thing's jammed!" the corporal yelled back, as he struggled to get the missile launcher's loading chamber to open. "Piece of Goddamn, mother fucking, shit! OPEN!"

Ron raced up to the trench's edge and began firing at the charging behemoth, in an attempt to bring the thing down, or at least by them some time.

"There! I got it!" The corporal exclaimed, as he slammed closed the missile launcher's chamber.

"Good, now corporal would you please kill that fucking Ultralisk?" Ron barked at the corporal. "Preferably before it tears us to shreds." He added in an afterthought

The corporal leapt up to see over the edge, just in time for him to catch a leaping Zergling's razor sharp claws. The dog-sized Zerg, wasted no time shredding the man's armour and tearing into the soft fleshy body. The man screamed in pain and fear as he tried to dislodge Zergling.

Ron's heavy boot slammed onto the Zergling's head, crushing it between the rock hard ground, and three hundred pounds of armoured marine. Blood and gore splattered on Ron's leg as the Zerg's head exploded.

The Corporal was dead. His blood pooled beneath him, while bits of intestine and organs hung out of his rent body. The sight and the smell of the spilled guts almost caused Ron to throw up, as he bent down to scoop up the heavy weapon, still clutched in the corporal's hand.

"Oh, Fuck! Here it comes!"

Ron looked over the edge of the trench. The Ultralisk was only about two-hundred metres away, and was closing in rapidly. He brought the C-22 up, and sighted down the targeting receptacle.

Closer and closer it came as it charged. Sometimes trampling the smaller Zerg too slow to get out of its way. Its sharp hooves ripping up the dirt, and earth, its four bladed arms extended.

"COME ON! SHOOT IT."

Ron ignored the desperate cries of the men around them. He drowned out the sounds of their erratic fire, as many of them injected stimpacks into their systems.

Fifty metres and closing. Ron could see the feral yellow eyes of the beast, as they locked onto him.

Twenty-five metres. Some of the men scattered leaving the Lieutenant and a small handful of soldiers to hold the area. His heart racing and pounding in his ears. The rhythmic thump of the Ultralisk's hooves seemingly drowning out the sounds of battle.

Ten metres. Ron's breathing became heavy as he steadied his hands, his eye never leaving the target. The charging behemoth let loose a feral roar as it closed in on the remaining distance. All four blades extended, and ready to rip him apart.

"Boo-" _WHOOMP! _"Yah"

At a single metre Ron fired. The missile flew straight and true, right into the weak point of the beast's armoured hide. The neck plate. The explosion tore the Ultralisk apart, showering Ron, and the few marines who had the balls to stay with him, as he held is ground, in its blood and gore.

The call had to be made. Alpha could no longer hold its position. They would have to fall back. Ron activated his com-unit "Attention Alpha Company. This Lieutenant Stoppable. Prepare to fall back to Bravo line. Repeat; prepare to fall back to Bravo Line. If you can move on your own, help those who can't." Ron let out a heavy sigh as he changed frequencies. "Thunder this is Anvil, prepare to target Alpha's trench-line on my mark…"

* * *

Fifteen pairs of boots slowly made their way over the rocky, barren plains that dominated the planet of Char. Ghost Captain Kim Possible and her squad moved in complete silence. Their eyes never ceasing in scanning the empty plains in front of them.

They were getting closer to their objective, and the fear, and the anxiousness beginning to set in. Far in the distances, the sounds of GJ's assault guns could be heard, sounding like distant thunder, as the decoys fought with an unrelenting horde of Zerg forces.

Kim was worried, not that the men could tell, as she radiated an aura of self-confidence that could be seen in her walk and posture. But inside she was worried, she knew they were less then a klick, to the target but they hadn't seen any Zerg since the Hydralisk. Her eyes, never stopped moving, as her head moved side to side scanning the barren, rocky, Hellish plains of the planet Char. She didn't say anything though; the men counted on her ability, and her invincible self-confidence to lead them through everything.

Luckily Travenkov was also nervous, and he had no regret in letting the other men know it. "Ma'am, some things es up. I feel et in my gut. My gut es never wrong."

The other men nodded, and voiced their agreement with the Sergeant. With the others in agreement Kim quickly activated her com-link, as they continued moving. All of them, now on High Alert, their weapons joining them in scanning the deserted plains.

"Hey Kim, what's up." Wade asked, as he appeared on the view screen.

"Wade, I need you to run a scan on our position."

"That's all?' Wade face fell, he had been hoping for a challenge. He had very little in the range of challenges, since breaking the Dominion's encryption keys that alerted the UED fleet to the Dominion's fleet of battle-cruisers in dry dock.

"Alright scans going, just give me a few sec…" Wade's eyes widened in fear as the scan reported back its findings. "Shit! Kim Your standing right on top of a borrowed swarm! Get out of there!"

The ground exploded all around them, as hundreds of Zerg burst from their underground borrows, and immediately attacked the surprised, and the exposed UED patrol.

To their credit the marines once over the second of surprise and hesitation, scattered and dived for cover as the mass of Zerglings and Hydralisks attacked. Barbs flew over her head as Kim dived for a rocky boulder. Yori apparently had the same idea, as the large rock sheltered the both of them from the rampaging Zerg.

"It seems as though we found that missing Zerg patrol." Yori observed calmly, as she ducked out from behind the cover, her weapon leveled at the mass of Zerg. "And they have, as you Earthers say 'brought some friends to play with us.'"

A Hydralisk, who had been sneaking up on them was dropped by Yori's well placed shot. Its large head snapped back in a splatter of gore. Its long snake like body crumpled beneath it as it fell to the ground.

Kim glanced around her. The Zerg where beginning to flank their positions and encircle the fifteen man squad. Her weapon came to her shoulder as she dived out of cover, firing into the Zerg's line; as she ran to a small group of boulders that provided cover for half the squad. Her accurate shots brought down another Hydralisk, as it climbed over the body of another of its kin. With a burst of speed she leapt into the air, landing with a summersault between Travenkov, and Josh.

Yori quickly followed her captain's example; leaping out of the cover Yori tossed a frag grenade into a group of Zerglings. The explosion tore the small group of bugs to pieces, sending small bits of Zerg everywhere. With a final leap Yori vaulted over the small boulders and into the cover, which sheltered the small group.

"We can't stay here Sergeant!" Kim screamed over the sound of rifle fire, and the feral roars of the Zerg. As if to emphasize her point, a marine screamed in pain, as a Hydralisk spine tore into his shoulder. Whimpering the man pulled it out and brought his now trembling weapon back to his shoulder.

Travenkov's visor slid up, revealing the large man's grey eyes. He knew what had to be done. "Ma'am, take Soruchi and the Lt. and get out of here. We'll cover you."

"What! No! We can get out of here, all of us. We just need a fall back plan." Kim argued, but deep down she knew it was hopeless. The Zerg were relentless and would hunt them down until they were all dead.

"There es no other way ma'am, if we stay here we all get killed, you three have got to get out of here!"

Kim stared into Travenkov's eyes and saw the truth. This mission could not fail, to succeed she would have to sacrifice Travenkov and his squad.

"Mankey, Soruchi. Power up cloaks, prepare to move on my mark." Both ghost nodded sadly as they activated the devices. Kim took one last look at the men who had followed her command

"_Das vidanya, Dmitry Vladmirovitch._" Kim said to him as she activated her own cloak. "Do not go gently into that Good Night."

With that she was gone. The Zerg paid no attention to the faint shimmers as they broke out from cover, and raced across the killing fields that the once barren plains had become.

As the three ran, they could hear the sounds of rifle fire growing dimmer and dimmer, until only the sound of one remained then suddenly, nothing. The squad was gone. A large explosion sounded out from the small battleground.

Dmitry Vladmirovitch Travenkov had followed his Captain's last request. Into the Good Night he sent Zerg before him, and as he died, he activated a power surge on his armour; the resulting explosion flash boiled what remained of the Zerg, ensuring that they could not hunt his CO again.

Three heads bowed in honour of their comrades' sacrifice. _Is this how he felt. _Kim asked herself, _is this how he felt when he realized that we could not win, and the only way to survive was to run?_

_NO! How dare you think that! We could have held on, we could have held the Ridge. Company Kilo, Erik, they all would still be alive if it wasn't for that bastard. _Her pride and anger argued back, drowning out her doubts. _Besides the situations were completely different._

_How so? How are they so different?_ The doubts returned.

_I can't have this. Head in the game, Possible. I need to finish the mission, and then I can sort these things out. If they need to be sorted out._

"Possible-san, how could we do that? How could we abandon them like that?" Yori asked tears streaming from her eyes. "We should have stayed beside them!"

Josh sighed heavily "They had a job to do Soruchi." He said quietly, "and so do we."

Kim nodded in agreement with him, not trusting her self to speak just yet, as she stared out to where the squad had made their valiant last stand.

"A warrior has no honour if he flees to save his own life at the expense of his comrades. Without honour a warrior is just a thug." Yori countered.

"Then it's a good thing we're soldiers. We know when we must make a sacrifice in order to fulfill our mission. Or did you forget that if we fail, eight-hundred men would be slaughtered, and a new plan would have to be devised, costing more lives?" Josh joined Kim in her silent vigil.

Yori was about to press the matter when Kim broke her long silence. "Mankey's right Soruchi, they knew what they where doing. Those men gave their lives so we could complete our mission. Let's not allow their sacrifices mean nothing, we got a job to do so let's finish it."

Yori nodded as Kim moved past her and Mankey, determination seeming to ooze out of her as they made their way to the Zerg Hive.

* * *

"NOW! Come on Alpha, let's go! Move your asses!"

Men leapt over the edge of the trench and ran as fast as their legs could carry them, as high explosive shells rained down on the trench line. Some carried wounded, helping them move to Bravo's position only a couple hundred metres away, while others carried packed heavy weapons up the slope, yet while others covered the backs of the retreating marines with suppressing fire.

Ron moved back slowly, firing at anything that managed to make it past the close bombardment. The recoil slammed into his shoulder, and spent shells whizzed past his face, as he and six others moved slowly back up the slope.

A marine cried out in pain as he dropped to the ground clutching at a spine, sticking out of his leg, above the knee. Behind him almost all of Alpha were taking up firing positions in Bravo's trench. Without missing a beat Ron turned and hefted the injured marine onto his back, and began moving up hill. The rest of the rear-guard followed suit, firing into the inferno being created by the explosive shells and lobbing grenades for good measure.

The injured marine moaned in pain, as Ron carried him up the slope. _Only fifty metres, come-on Stoppable, you can do this. _Ron willed himself foreword, each step becoming more difficult as the slope grew steeper.

Suddenly a Hydralisk spine ripped through his armour, and sunk into the back of his shin. Ron screamed in pain, as he and the wounded marine collapsed to the ground. Looking behind them Ron saw, to his horror, Zerg coming up the slope, intent on ripping the two of them apart.

Ron's hand groped blindly for his service pistol, when the unmistakable sound of auto-cannons ripped through the air. Heavy caliber bullets ripped through the Zerg forces shredding their armoured hides like wax paper, as 2nd Lieutenant Felix Renton led his Goliath forces into the fray.

"I see you could use a hand there, sir." Renton's image filled his view screen, a smirk only noticeable in Felix's eyes. "Don't worry Ron-man, we got your back!"

"Yeah that's what has me worried." Ron quipped as a medic applied an anesthetic to his lower leg. Helping him up, Ron covered the rest of the way with Felix's Goliaths covering him and the rest of the retreating rear-guard.

"How is he?" Ron asked the grey-clad medic, as soon as they were safe in Bravo's line.

"We can't treat him here. There's too much damage."

"Then put him onto a medical drop-ship and get him the hell out of here." Ron ordered, "Renton, pull your Goliaths back to Charlie's position."

The medic looked at Ron for a moment. "You should be on that ship too sir. That leg needs attention."

Ron stared at her as if she was mad. "It's only a flesh wound. I'll be fine."

The medic looked unconvinced as she walked away. "It's your leg sir. But if you loose it because of an infection don't CCBTM." Leaving Ron to wonder what CCBTM meant.

Ron's breath caught in his throat as he looked out over the plains. A whole new wave of Zerg was fast approaching. While the Zerg received new fighters, Task Force GJ Alpha Company had lost over a quarter of its strength in the desperate fighting that had taken place in the trenches.

_Aw shit. Come on Captain Where the fuck are you._

* * *

Just over the ridge was the Hive, Overlords filled the sky, projecting control over the many minions of the Cerebrate Thanzmoth's Brood. The three Ghosts watched in disgust as eggs hatched into new Hydralisks, and Zerglings to be thrown at the men of Task Force GJ.

"Just when you thought they couldn't get any more disgusting…" Josh whispered quietly.

"They are bugs after all, can't get much more gorchy then that." Kim whispered back.

"Possible-san speaks the truth. These beasts are… gorchy." Yori mused, "So Possible-san where do we call down the thunder?"

"Right where that Cerebrate is." Kim pointed with obvious distaste at the giant worm like creature. "Even if the nuke doesn't kill them all, the Cerebrate's death will cause them to turn on each other. Making things so much easier."

Kim breathed deeply, gathering inner strength. "We might as well get going; the sooner we do this the easier it will be." With that she latched her hook onto a sturdy rock and repelled down. Her two subordinates quickly followed her example, and with in five minutes their feet touched the almost mossy feeling ground.

The three Ghosts moved quickly and silently through the Zerg Hive. Kim knew their cloaks would be useless against the Zerg Overlords, so they had to move slowly and away from them.

One thing Kim noticed was how bad the air smelled, death and decay mixed with the rotten stench of brimstone. The Zerg it seemed could corrupt the most evil of planets and turn them into something beyond hellish.

As Kim neared the target Yori's image appeared on her com-screen "Possible-san I'm in position. Starting targeting sequence now."

"Copy that. Mankey call Wade for extraction, I'll give Stoppable the signal to start getting the troops out of there."

Kim activated her other view screen as Stoppable's image appeared. The sounds of desperate battle, men cursing and screaming, and the roar of the heavy guns, could all be clearly heard in the background.

"Stoppable the nuke's being set. Call for artillery support and get the men out of there." Kim barked, her order though crisp and clear still carried a hint of disdain and contempt. "Wade already has ships waiting for you and the men at these coordinates."

Stoppable's image nodded "Wilco Ma'am. Stoppable out."

As his image was disconnected, Yori's appeared, confirming that the nuke was set.

"Mankey, where's our Evac Zone?"

"Rides already waiting at half a klick away."

"Alright let's get out of here, and don't worry about being sneaky. Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"

All three of them burst from their hiding spaces and took off as fast as their feet could carry them, not caring about the stupefied, and surprised Zerg, as they leapt over, or shot them. With in a minute they had reached the cliff. Using specially designed, powered, tactical grappling hooks, Kim, Josh and Yori where over the cliff, and running to the distant shape of a drop-ship with in a matter of minutes.

* * *

The Cerebrate Thanzmoth was shocked. Humans had penetrated its Hive Cluster! Soon, however, the shock gave way to rage. It had foolishly sent all of its minions to crush the Terran forces in the canyon. Not believing for a single moment, that they would attempt a strike at its Cluster.

Damn these Terrans.

It still had a few Mutalisks left from the mauling that they had received from the Terrans defenses. It would send these after the distant Terran ship. The ship would not last long against the fearsome Mutalisks.

Thanzmoth's attention, however, was dragged away from the distant ship as it sped away, to the bright orange fire trail, which propelled a large steel grey object. The great and powerful Thanzmoth's thoughts were cut short, as the grey object slammed into the large Hive building right beside it.

As the last drop-ship took off, Ron saw the glow of the artificial sun brighten, until it looked as if the sun had finally risen, on this dark and ash chocked planet. He watched as the ball grew bigger and bigger, reducing thousands of Zerg to ashes, and nuclear waste.

He smiled at the cheering from the other occupants of the ship, as they congratulated one another, promising to buy each other a beer, or a pack of smokes. Ron turned his attention back to the now towering mushroom cloud. Its bright light slowly dimming.

He had forgotten what a sunrise looked like, too bad it was an artificial one.

* * *

Kim stared out and the now fainting glow. As the ship flew away she slowly leaned back and closed her eyes. Sleep quickly overcame her, but before she fell asleep she made a vow to at least talk to him. Now that she knew what at least a little bit, of what Stoppable must feel.

* * *

Booyah! God you guys have no idea how hard its been to write this chapter. Especially with games like Fallout 3 and Gears of War 2 out. By the way if you found yourself getting pwnd by a chainsaw, that's probably me. So now that this is done I will return to chain sawing noobs on Live. So see yah around.


	6. A Day of Rest, And A Day of Scars

**The Brood War: **_Chapter 6: A Day of Rest, And A Day of Scars_

The flag ship of the UED fleet, the _DSS Aleksander_, was like most _Conqueror_-class battlecruisers, it wasn't as graceful, nor as sleek as the Protoss fighters, or carriers. Large and blocky, its bridge fanned out in the classic hammerhead style that was so popular with both the Dominion, and Confederacy. But what it lacked in grace, it more then made up for in raw power. Powerful anti-ship and anti-ground laser batteries dotted the hull, but left the hammerhead bare for the massive energy based Yamato Cannon. Yes, it was a ship fit for the Fleet Admiral of the UED Expeditionary Force.

The _Aleksander_'s officer's cabin was spacious and regally designed. The floor was of a dark red carpet, the walls were decorated with several oil paintings, of famous men and women. Hard wood furniture of oak, and maple, were arranged to provide the maximum amount of space. Several bookshelves, also of a dark wood, pushed up against some of the bare walls, their shelves filled with the leather bound book collection of Admiral DuGalle.

Gerard DuGalle, himself, stared down at the holographic chess board. Not glancing at his opponent in front of him, or listening to the old fashioned phonograph behind him, as it softly played Bach's Toccata in the background. He was playing badly, and he knew it. DuGalle just couldn't forget the last time he had played a match. It had been the day before DuGalle had ordered the capture of his friend Vice-Admiral Alexei Stukov. The Russian had beaten DuGalle soundly, as he almost always did.

Finally DuGalle made his move, as his knight took his opponent's rook; he glanced up to see the smirk of his one-eyed subordinate as she moved her queen to take his now undefended bishop.

"Check." Admiral Elizabeth 'Betty' Director clucked, as she put DuGalle's king into jeopardy.

"I must admit that Task Force Golf Juliett has passed its initial test with flying colours, but I do not understand, my dear Betty, why you decided to choose Lieutenant Stoppable to be in second in command of your new unit. The man's a traitor and a coward." DuGalle asked breaking the silence between the two, as he moved a pawn to defend his king.

He was actually quite interested in the motley crew of soldiers Betty had lined up for her Task Force GJ. Despite his predictions that TFGJ would be a colossal failure, they had proven themselves to be quite the exceptional combat unit.

"Simple, to counter, and balance the CO's gun-ho personality. Ghost Captain Possible is incredibly talented and knows it. She is confident almost to the point of obnoxiousness. But then again she has earned that confidence; I've seen reports of Possible doing things that seem impossible yet still coming out alive. But that confidence can, and will get her and the men into trouble.

"While Stoppable is more relaxed, and laid back, I'm not saying he's not a good soldier, he may not the best, but he won't go rushing in, putting his men at risk. It also won't hurt that he has something to motivate him, the Captain won't trust him, and he will have to prove himself worthy of that trust. We've both seen his scores, imagine what he could do if properly motivated."

Director paused, as she moved her remaining rook to take one of DuGalle's knights. Glancing her one eye up again as she continued. "Besides, we both know that Stoppable isn't a coward, and he did what was needed to be done at Bunker Ridge."

DuGalle gave no response. He did indeed know that Stoppable was no coward, but that didn't convince him that Stoppable wasn't a back-shooting traitor. The one thing that everyone knew DuGalle could not abide was a traitor.

As DuGalle moved his queen to take a pawn, putting Director's own king at risk, he puzzled over Possible and the other two Ghosts in her unit. They weren't not like the other Ghost Agents that the UED had brought with them, they were not the cold, calculating killers, DuGalle had come to expect. But fine officers, who generally cared for their men.

"How did Possible, and Mankey, manage to break out of their conditioning? I thought it was impossible especially with their memory suppressor chips."

Director frowned as she moved her king a square to the left, removing it from immediate danger. "It is impossible. I specifically ordered the Facility, not to break either Possible or Mankey, although they are both fitted with their memory chips."

This caused DuGalle to raise a silver eyebrow, as he pressed his advantage, using his remaining knight to capture a bishop.

"And why would that be? And what about Soruchi? As a Dominion Ghost, shouldn't she be on an inhibitor chip as well?"

Director smiled in satisfaction, DuGalle had fallen into her trap. Her queen blitzed across the board taking DuGalle's queen, ensuring the safety of her imperiled king.

"I chose not to break them, because both Mankey and Possible were showing early leadership skills, and natural talents as officers. Why deprive the UED of two fine officers in exchange for two ruthless killers? The UED is always in need of good officers, especially now, during such a long campaign. They are however still both implanted with neural inhibitor, and memory suppressor chips."

Director smiled as DuGalle moved a rook, trying to entice her into taking it. _My dear Gerard you are as subtle as a painted whore in a nunnery when it comes to this game_. Director thought to herself as she ignored the exposed rook, choosing to take one of his depleting pawns instead, as she continued.

"It's what I used to get them to join TFGJ. I pulled some strings with UED command to offer Possible and Mankey the chance to return to the citizenry after the campaign. If they survive of course. Soldiers always fight better when you give them proper motivation."

DuGalle's lips curled into a smirk of his own, as his knight took her queen. _Subtly within blundering, few are able to expect such a trap_. "That still does not explain Soruchi. Can we really allow her to run free like that?"

Director chewed her lip, as she planed out her next move. "Of course we can, she hates the Dominion for what they put Soruchi through. Besides Soruchi is from Yamanouchi, they pride themselves on a code of warrior honour. Because it was Captain Possible of the UED, that rescued her from the Dominion Ghost Academy, Soruchi is now in an honour debt to Possible, and the UED. You should know that the greatest weapon is something taken from the enemy and turned against them."

Finally making a decision, Director moved a knight capturing DuGalle's exposed rook. A moment later Director realized her mistake, as his bishop knocked her knight off its square.

"Check Mate, my dear Admiral, though well played." DuGalle congratulated her as he reached into his desk and pulled out a bottle of Grande Marnier. Pouring two small glasses of the fine liqueur, he handed one to Director.

"Now that the pass is clear we can begin our final push against the Overmind, and its defending Cerebrates." DuGalle raised his glass along with Director's. "To victory against the enemies of Earth and humanity!" DuGalle toasted with a clink of their glasses.

"I'll drink to that sir." Director replied as they both drained their glasses.

* * *

Ghost Captain Kim Possible was in deep thought, as she paced in her small tent. Task Force Golf Juliett had taken heavy causalities, but had won the day. Now in the aftermath, of their impressive victory, the Task Force had been withdrawn from the front lines, to rest, regroup, and repair. She was proud of her men, for how the had handled themselves, even Stoppable.

_Maybe I had him all wrong._ Part of her admitted.

_What! How can you even think that! He's nothing but a back shooting coward! He abandoned his unit! _Pride and anger argued against her reasoning.

_How is that any different from what we did to Travenkov?_

_We had a mission to complete! That's how! We had no choice! We had to save the men in the canyon. If Stoppable would have stayed…_

_The whole company would have been wiped out, and we would not be having this conversation. He did the only thing he could. The Wraiths were not going to arrive in time to save the company._

Kim stopped pacing to rub her temples. Her internal argument was giving her such a headache. She looked towards the picture of Erik. _Can I forgive him for killing you? Or would that be a betrayal of what you gave me?_ Kim asked him in her mind. _Or was your decision to stand a betrayal of our trust in you? _Sighing in frustration, Kim ground her palm into her forehead.

"Ma'am, can I come in?"

Stoppable's voice cut through her thoughts. _Damn it! What's that fucker doing here? How dare he interrupt our thoughts! Send him away, with a bullet between the eyes_. Her pride and anger screamed at her. She pushed those thoughts from her mind.

"Of course Lieutenant."

Ron Stoppable's large, armoured form pushed through the flaps of the tent. He stood to attention, trying to keep the weight off his wounded leg. Kim held back a gasp as she looked over his armour. Blood and gore was splattered all over his once grey armour, his face was tired and haggard, with streaks of sweat cutting through the soot, and ash.

"You look like shit, Stoppable."

Ron smiled. "I get that a lot ma'am. Though I have to admit that was probably the nicest thing you've said to me since I joined GJ." Ron's smile disappeared, as he pulled out a long sheet of paper. "I have the causality lists."

Kim nodded, as she closed her eyes.

"How many?"

"In total, Task Force GJ suffered one hundred and forty-three casualties. Of those, ninety-four were killed. Alpha Company suffered the most, with fifty-six killed and eighteen wounded, including me. Bravo Company suffered thirty-one dead and twenty-five wounded. Charlie and Delta Companies suffered the least, seven dead between the two of them, and six wounded."

Kim sighed heavily. "Better make that one hundred and fifty-five, with a hundred and six dead. Travenkov and his twelve men didn't survive either."

Ron's face grew solemn. Kim was surprised to notice how much the expression didn't fit him. His face was meant for a smile, not this grim expression. "I'm sorry Stoppable. I know that you knew him."

Ron nodded. "I did. We were both wounded at Braxis, fighting the Dominion. As we were evacuated from the front, a Zerg attack surprised us. Without really thinking I just grabbed the fifty cal. and poured fire on those bugs. Next thing I know Travenkov was beside me, reloading the weapon so I can keep shooting." Ron smiled as he remembered the attack, and his comrade in arms. "If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here, and a lot of good men would have been slaughtered."

The two officers fell into silence, remembering the brave man, who had sacrificed himself to save his men, his friends, his brothers. As the seconds ticked by, Kim slowly finally realized that she had been wrong about Ron. He wasn't a man who would cut and run from his friends, Ron was a man who would stand by them to the very end, no matter what they thought of him.

"Stop… Ron, I'm not good at admitting that I was wrong. I'm not the best at apologizing, but I was wrong. I was wrong about you. You didn't abandon Kilo, you tried to save it. I'm sorry."

Ron stared at his commanding officer for a moment, his face blank of any expression. The moments ticked by, dragging out the silence between the two soldiers. Then Ron's face cracked into the large, goofy, kind smile, he was known for.

"No need to be sorry there ma'… Kim. If you had done that too me, I probably would still be pissed off at you, and contemplating justifiable homicide." Ron's smile grew wider, "hey I remembered a school word!"

Kim stared at her subordinate, her face a mixture of surprise, confusion, and amusement, before she began chuckling. "You sound surprised at that, what five years away from school and you forget everything?"

Ron chuckled along with her. "No, it's just that I really didn't have much to work with up here." He jabbed an armoured finger at the side of his head, "part of the reason why I joined the UED Marines. You don't need a lot of brainage to figure out rule three: Remember when using the Gauss rifle, just point the barrel at whatever you want to die and squeeze the trigger. Boom! Instant corpse."

Kim chuckled at the cynical Marine rule; she had heard all sixty-three of them on numerous occasions. She smiled at the armoured and limping Lieutenant as she held out her hand. Ron smiled as his large, power-gauntleted hand, carefully grabbed hers, as they shook.

"The men are proud to serve under you Kim. As am I. You're a fine officer and you do the UED proud."

As they let go of each other's hand, Kim watched as Ron winced slightly, as he shifted his weight from his injured leg. Fiery lances of pain shot through his wound and up his spine. Kim shook her head at her XO.

"Ron, you need to get that leg checked out. I don't need you applying for an early discharge because you lost your leg to an infection."

"It's alright Kim; I just need to keep the weight off of it."

"Ron…" Kim's tone was disapproving.

"No really it's alright. I'm fine Kim."

Kim sighed; she had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but Kim knew she was going to have to use it. Slowly she tilted her head to the side, and protruded her lower lip. Her green eyes became large, and wet. The Puppy-Dog-Pout, her most dreaded weapons, was now in effect. Both Josh and Erik and several others had fallen before it. Now it would claim another victim.

Ron's eyes widened in horror, as he stared at the Captain. "My God! What the hell is that!? Ah! It's too cute! My eyes! It burns! It burns!" Quickly he covered his eyes, but the damage had been done. "Alright I'll go; I'll go, just stop the cuteness, just stop!" Ron pleaded.

Kim watched in satisfaction as Ron limped out of her tent towards the medical tent as fast as a he could. _Well that's that. He really is not that bad of a guy now is he? Well he is kind of wierd, but I like him._

* * *

"What did I tell you about CCBM, hmmm?" Chief Medical Officer Monique Jenkins scolded as she recognized the nervous form of the limping Lieutenant.

"How can I know what you told me, when I don't even know what the hell CCBM means?" Ron defended himself.

Monique rolled her eyes, as she sighed. "Come crying back to me."

"Oh, well I wasn't going to but the Captain made me; she did something, with her face that just made me. The horrible cuteness of it." Ron shuddered as he remembered the Captains weapon.

"That girl hit you with the PDP, didn't she?" Noticing the confused look from Ron she added, "Puppy-Dog-Pout, and don't worry, stronger men before you have fallen victim to its power. Now let's check out that leg of yours."

Bending down she removed the metal covering protecting Ron's leg. A putrid smell hit her nose, as she glanced down. The wound had become infected. Greenish, yellow puss leaked from the pores, mixing with the crimson flow of blood. The flesh around the wound had turned a sickening greenish colour, adding to the disgusting image in front of her.

"Well how is it Doc?" Her patient asked.

Monique scrunched up her nose in disgust. "The wounds become infected. Bacteria from the Hydralisk's mouth I think. Don't worry; I have a nice booster shot right here that will CTU." Ron looked down at her,

"Clear that up." Monique answered his questioning look, "But before I administer it I need to know if you've taken any stim-packs lately?"

"No, I don't use stims."

"Alright then." With that she stabbed Ron's leg with a CO2 MDS, there was a small hiss, as the small looking gun with four sharp needles, injected the anti-bacterial into Ron's blood stream.

"There you go boy, all finished. DDTA." Monique rolled her eyes again at Ron's confused and lost look, as she reattached the gore-splattered armour. "Don't do that again."

"Yeah, getting hit by another Hydralisk spine is real high on my things to do before I die list. Thanks again Doc."

Monique watched with interest, and curiosity as the Lieutenant walked out of her tent. Yesterday, his eyes had been cold, and broken. His face grim and his shoulders slouched as though he carried a heavy burden. But now, his eyes were warm, and friendly, his face held a large smile, and although he still walked with a slouch, it seemed to be natural, as if he just chose to walk like that. Shaking her head in wonder, Monique turned away from the Lieutenant's back, and to the wounded men, who crowded her medical facility.

_

* * *

_

Click, Click, Click

With practiced ease, Ghost Lieutenant Joshua Mankey, flicked the gold, platted lighter open and closed, as he stared out into the ash covered plains of Char. He stared almost dispassionately at the flashes of distant artillery, as the men of the UED advanced into hell.

_Click, Click, Click_

He never lit the lighter. He would just continue to flick it open and closed, as he went into deep thought, or when he would dwell on a memory. He didn't know his mother or his father, all he really knew was the Facility, and those were times better forgotten. The only good memory he had of that place was the relationship he had built with Kim.

_Click, Click, Click _

So deep was he into his thoughts, he didn't notice that Stoppable had sat down beside him, until the Lieutenant spoke up.

"Hey, can you spare a light?"

Josh didn't straight away; he just continued to stare out into the wastelands of the plains of Char.

Finally, just as Ron was about to ask again, Josh answered. "Sorry sir, I don't have a light."

"What's that then?" Ron asked, his unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth as he pointed to the lighter Josh held in his hands.

"A memory and a lesson." Josh replied cryptically, before lapsing once again into silence, save for the sound of the lighter clicking open and closed.

The two officers stared into the distance, taking the sights. The ash swept, rocky plains, the inactivity of what should have been a bustling camp. They watched as men moved about with no real purpose. Some 'enjoyed' their nutrient stuffed, flash frozen meal bars, while others dealt cards, or shot dice, gambling with what little money they had, while others wrote letters, or recorded vids for loved ones back home. Goliath pilots and siege tank drivers worked on their beloved machines. Save for the distant sound of artillery, the squadrons of Wraiths flying over head, towards their targets, and the sight of drop ships returning with the wounded, the camp seemed almost peaceful.

A passing Firebat solved Ron's cigarette problem. Grabbing the man's hand, Ron lifted the foul smelling chemical-dispensing gauntlet towards his face, and stuck the end of his cig into the pilot light. A puff later, Ron dropped the Firebat's hand with a nod of thanks.

"You know, those things are going to kill you one of these days." Josh broke their previous silence, not even looking at his superior.

"So will a Zerg, or a Protoss, or some Dominion mother-fucker, and you don't see me not fighting them. Besides do you know what the life expectancy of a Marine is, once we hit the ground, and jump into the shit?"

Josh shook his head.

Ron smirked as he remembered his first day in basic, when the battle scarred Drill Sergeant, had gone on a rant about how worthless they were, how he didn't expect any of them to make it past the average life expectancy.

Ron took a long drag on his cig before answering. "A UED Marine is expected to only last several seconds when he first hits the ground. If we're properly back-upped with Goliaths, siege tanks, Firebats, and medics, then we have a slightly better chance of survival. Around two-to-five minutes."

Josh was surprised by the flatness of the statement. "Really? Huh… I just thought that you Marines believed smoking made you look cool."

Ron grinned with another puff of smoke. "So what's the story behind that lighter?" He asked with a gesture.

Josh grimaced at the unwelcome memory of only a few weeks prior, as he looked down to the gold lighter he held in his hand. "It belonged to Vice-Admiral Stukov." Josh whispered sadly, "he gave it to me the day he die… no, the day he was murdered by that traitorous bastard Duran."

Ron was taken aback by the look of hatred that crossed Josh's calm features. He had heard rumors that Stukov had been killed in an assault on a Zerg position, a couple of days before the nuclear strike, but he hadn't heard this.

"What happened?"

_Click, Click, Click_

Josh flicked the lighter open and closed again, as he fell into silence. Ron waited patiently, not sure if Josh would tell his story. Then too his surprise, Josh spoke up, his blue eyes never leaving the thermal wind swept plains, as though he could see something far off in the distance. Ron knew that look, he had seen it a dozen times in the faces of other soldiers, who had experienced horrors they would never forget.

"Stukov had preserved a weapon known as the Psi-disruptor…"

"Is that a word I should know?" Ron interrupted.

Josh looked at him in annoyance. "It's a device designed to interrupt the connection between Cerebrates and their broods."

"Oh."

"Anyway, DuGalle, under the advice of Lieutenant Duran, and despite protest from Stukov, ordered the Disruptor destroyed when it was discovered on Tarsonis. Stukov seeking to preserve the weapon dispatched me and a small squad of Ghosts to oversee the 'destruction' of the device. Duran bought it and moved his forces on. We then activated the weapon and saw the broods come apart at the very seems. That's when we knew it was our only chance at defeating the Overmind.

"After Aiur however, DuGalle discovered that the Disruptor was still intact, again under advice from Duran, he dispatched a commando unit to capture and terminate Stukov's command."

_Ghost Lieutenant Josh Mankey ran down the well lit, cement hall. The strikes of his boots against the cold floor were barley heard over the sound of the alarms._

_So it's true. Josh thought to himself, DuGalle has found us. I hope Stukov can make DuGalle see the truth. He just has to listen to Stukov, he just has to._

_Throughout the base, sporadic small arms, and heavy weapons fire could be heard. Josh's fire teams were calling in trying to request reinforcements, before their transmissions were cut off. _

_I got to find the Vice-Admiral, he can't stay here. DuGalle is sure to kill him!_

_Disobeying an order was treason. Every soldier in the UED knew that treason was a capital offence. Stukov and his men had committed treason. They all knew what punishment awaited them, if they were caught._

_Josh had left his men behind, to clear a path for their commander, while he went ahead to grab him. Monitors and computers, flashed by as Josh raced up the hall, never slowing down for an instant. Finally after several, minutes of flat out running, Josh had reached Stukov's command centre. _

_Josh's relieve disappeared as he pressed the open button. The large steel doors were locked tight. In rage he slammed the butt of his rifle against the immovable doors. Two voices drifted through the doors as Josh planted an ear against them, hoping against hope, that Stukov was managing to convince DuGalle, of the necessity of his plan._

_His hopes were dashed however, when he heard Stukov's voice through the door._

"_Lieutenant Duran." Stukov's voice was thick with contempt for his fellow officer. "I'm not surprised. We both know exactly what it is you're here to terminate. Get on with it."_

_Josh's moth dropped open with horror, as he continued to pound his weapon on the security access panel. _

"_Say goodnight Stukov." Duran's voice was filled with sadistic pleasure._

_Come on open! Open God damn it! A large crack reverberated in the hall as the panel finally gave way to the unending beating. _

"_Yes!" Josh exclaimed as the doors lowered._

"_To hell with yo..." A shot drowned out the rest of Stukov's curse. Josh watched in horror as the door had lowered just enough, to watch his mentor, commander, his friend, fall to the ground, clutching at the bullet wound in his chest. _

"_NOOOOO!" Josh screamed as he watched Stukov's murderer disappear from sight. With out even thinking of the grey-armoured commando squad standing in surprise, at the sight of the dying Admiral, Josh rushed up, to comfort the dying man._

_As he cradled the older man, Josh felt something pressed into his hand. Stukov spoke in gasps, as crimson blood stained his uniform._

"_Remember, Wendellovich what I have taught you… Remember above all else, that it was pride that killed me… an officer must be above such things or else… he will lead his men into destruction. Now, Wendellovich, put me through to Gerard… I will not have my death mean nothing!"_

_Josh complied with his mentor's last order. Glancing down into his palm, he saw what Stukov had given him. Stukov's gold plated light rested in Josh's gloved palm._

"After that it got blurry. I could remember only bits and pieces. Duran had started a self-destruct sequence, and allowed a brood of Zerg to enter the facility."

_Josh leveled his rifle, and fired. The slug ripped through the exoskeleton of a Hydralisk, showering, its brood members in blood and gore. Righteous furry burned through the veins of Stukov's men, as they advanced through the now darkened halls._

_Slugs tore out chunks of walls, and destroyed, valuable computers and equipment, but the men pressed on, heedless of the cost. Marine Gauss Rifles, cut down Zerglings, while the heavy caliber auto-cannons of Goliaths, ripped apart Hydralisks, and infested Terrans._

_The men pushed on, often stepping over their own dead, as they cut through the Zerg. At one point, the UED troops had to fix their bayonets, and engage in bloody hand-to-hand combat. Causalities were astounding, but the men pressed on. _

_Finally after valuable minutes of desperate fighting, they had reached the core. The dozen survivors of the attack quickly cleared the room with well placed shots, as Josh raced up the stairs, and manually shut off the self-destruct sequence. _

_The UED had saved the disruptor, but at a great cost._

"I swore that day, that I would hunt down that mother fucker Duran and make him pay, no matter what. Even if it costs me my life."

Ron nodded in agreement. He could understand. If he was in Josh's position he too would hunt down the traitor and make his ending as painful as possible.

"This is why I defended you sir." Josh held up the lighter, "I took Stukov's lesson to heart. I wouldn't allow my pride to get in the way of my judgment, and I wouldn't allow my pride to judge you either."

Ron was quite for a moment as he soaked up the story. In truth he really didn't care what people had thought of him. He had done what needed to be done, and he wasn't sorry for it. The only thing he was sorry for was that he had failed so many of his men. But he wasn't about to tell Josh that.

"Thanks Josh. I appreciate it."

Ron's radio suddenly cracked to life, startling the two men. Ron shrugged apologetically as he sealed his visor. Wade's image snapped to life in the lower corner of his HUD.

"Sorry to disturb you Stoppable, but Captain Possible wants you to meet her in the command tent. New orders."

"Awww man, this was supposed to be a day to relax."

Wade shrugged. "Welcome to the army soldier. Now get a move on." With that, Wade shut off the feed.

Sighing, Ron climbed to his feet, nodded to Josh, who had returned back to flipping Stukov's lesson open and closed.

Men in the camp continued lazing about. Some waved to Ron as he passed, others threw salutes, while others shouted their thanks. In their eyes, Ron had proved himself by saving their asses. And they were grateful. All talk of him being a coward, was gone, all looks of contempt were replaced with looks of gratefulness, and admiration. Ron was one of them now.

Ron pushed the tent flaps open, and instantly came to attention. Kim was discussing the new orders with a holographic image of Fleet-Admiral DuGalle stood in the middle of the cramped tent.

"Ah excellent, now that Lieutenant Stoppable is here we can get right into business." DuGalle's commanding voice, caused all thoughts of interruption to flee Ron's mind.

"A platoon from the 23rd armoured division, as well as six siege tanks have gone missing. We don't know if they've gone AWOL, or if something has happened to them. This is where you come in. I want Task Force GJ to rendezvous with several Ghost agents, and investigate. If something has happened to them, I want you to investigate."

Kim interrupted the Admiral. "And if they have gone AWOL sir?"

DuGalle's eyes became rock hard as he turned his attention to her. "Then I want you to deal with them in any way you see fit. DuGalle out."

With that the holo-image flickered and went dead. Leaving the CO and her XO staring at each other.

Kim shrugged. "Well so much for a day of rest. Ron gather Delta Company and tell them to get suited up. We're headed back into the shit."

* * *

Chapter 6 is finally done. Now that my other project has been caught up I will be alternating between these two stories until they are both complete. I hope this lives up to your expectations. So read enjoy, and be sure to leave a review. By the way I'm thinking of a colab, details are on my bio page if you're interested. Don't forget to vote for yours truly in the Fannies, I need all the votes I can get. By the way I'm having a UED Marine Rule Contest, just send me a one liner rule, and if its good I'll use it in my story.


	7. Unfriendly Skies, Unfriendly Allies

**The Brood War: **_Chapter 7: Unfriendly Skies, Unfriendly Allies _

The modern Wraith fighter was not designed as an interceptor. Sure it was quick, agile, versatile, and fully functional in both space and atmosphere, but it had its flaws. Firstly: the fighter's main weaponry, the RAGCON missiles, were designed for destroying heavy capital and medium weight gunships; against the more nimble flyers from the Zerg, and the quick, and well armed Protoss Scouts, the Wraith would be a sitting duck, if it wasn't for the equipped cloaking technology. Secondly: though it was agile by Terran standards, it couldn't match the moves, or the turning speed of the Mutalisks. The flying bugs could make turns that would saw a Wraith in half, if the pilot was stupid enough to attempt them.

In light of these flaws the Wraith had been turned into a support fighter, flying as a ship killer, once enough damage had been inflicted on the enemy's capital ships. UED doctrine concerning fleet engagements called for the Battlecruisers to open the engagement with a volley from their Yamato cannons, damaging, and in some cases, destroying a significant portion of the enemy ships. The Wraith squadrons would then be ordered in often with escorts of Valkyrie frigates. With the Valkyries HALO missiles destroying a large percentage of the enemy's fighter forces, the Wraiths would be free to engage eliminate, and cause crippling damage to the opposing fleet.

Commander Alexander 'Snakebite" Johnston, of the 516th Fighter Wing, 2nd squadron, had been in several such fleet engagements, and knew his fighter from wing tip-to-wing tip, as did every other pilot of his squadron. Alex knew that the sixteen Wraith fighters that made up the majority of his twenty-four member squadron were unsuited for escorting eight drop ships, carrying ninety men, and a dozen Goliaths, over Zerg infested territory.

Unfortunately, every squadron that was suited for such a task was engaged somewhere else. The Zerg it seemed, were launching fiercer counter attacks, if that was possible, as the UED approached the Overmind. The Valkyries were spread thin to help combat the growing number of Mutalisk and Guardian raids. So that left it up to two squadrons of ship killers, to escort two hundred men and their equipment through a high risk area, aptly named by the surviving pilots as: "Hell's Belly." Needless to say, Snakebite was not a happy man.

"Hey Redneck, you see anything out there?" Snakebite barked over his COM to the newest pilot of his squadron.

"Naw, I ain't seen nothin' yet there sir!" Came the cheerful and enthusiastic southern drawl of James "Redneck" Carlsen. The men and women of the squadron all felt sorry for the happy, go-lucky young man, though everyone had left their loved ones back home on earth, Carlsen had left his wife and newborn at home, Redneck had yet to meet and hold his baby girl.

"Good, keep your eyes open Redneck. We don't need this FUBAR situation getting anymore fucked up then it already is!"

"Roger that sir. Ain't no Goddamn, mother fuckin' bug getting by me!"

Snakebite shook his head as he closed the COM. "Damn FNGs." He muttered under his breath as he focused his vision back out of his cockpit. Nothing but grey ash, black rock, and burning red lava, flashed by as the thirty two machines flew over the surface of Char at top speed. Well at the top speed of the slow moving drop ships that is.

Snakebite's cold blue eyes shifted contently over the horizon and saw… nothing. Nothing but ash, smoke, and dust. The ash choked sky of Char was empty. Easing back into his seat Johnston adjusted his breather, and checked his fuel reserves. _Still got enough to do three of these fucking baby-sit jobs_, Snakebite thought bitterly.

Taking a quick look behind him, Snakebite made sure that his fighter was keeping in formation with the slower drop ships and frigates. Noticing that a Valkyrie was close behind him, Snakebite increased his altitude to keep his thrust from buffering the frigate.

Snakebite had a lot of respect for the men and women who flew the Valkyries. Those pilots had saved the lives of him and his squadron too many times to count. The frigates had been specifically designed for anti-air combat, they weren't fast or nimble but what they lacked in speed and agility, they more than made up for in fire power, and armour. Snakebite had seen Valkyries take tremendous amounts of punishment, and then dish it back out ten fold. There were not many fighters that could stand up to a volley of HALO missiles.

"Uh, Commander?" Redneck's voice came over an open channel.

Snakebite rolled his eyes, as he opened a video link to the rookie pilot. "What is it Redneck?"

"Radar's pickin' up some blips, sir. We're gonna have company soon sir, an' a lot of it."

A look out of his cockpit confirmed Redneck's analyses. A whole swarm of Zerg flyers were head straight for them. Mutalisks. UED pilots had a couple of names for the flyers: Winged Buggers, Sky Fucks, Wraith Killers. The Glaives of the Mutalisks could rip through the armour plating of the Wraiths as though it were paper, and the winged flyers too quick and agile for the RAGCON missiles to be effective. Against Mutalisks, Wraiths were almost helpless; if it wasn't for their ability to cloak, and their laser cannons.

Snakebites mouth twisted into a snarl as he opened a channel to his squadron. "Alright all ships form up, Valkyries leaders One and Two take the lead, Wraiths leaders Two, Three, and Four, protect the flanks, and keep those bastards off the drop ships. Let's make this quick and clean."

The twenty-four pilots griped their yokes tightly in their hands, some whispered prayers for victory and safety under their breaths, while others clutched lucky trinkets. Then, like the ancient cavalry of the old ages, the knights of air and space, opened their thrusters, and charged into the fray.

* * *

Lieutenant-Commander Sasha "Queen" Terratova, Valkyrie One, breathed deep, and heavily as her formation closed into firing range. She had been in many engagements before, almost as many as Snakebite had been in, but she couldn't shake off the feeling of dread. It wasn't the same feeling of fear she felt while flying against Dominion or even against Protoss fleets, those who she flew against at least were no strangers to fear, but the Zerg… The Zerg were the embodiment of fear, and terror.

Out of the corner of her eye, Queen watched as the sixteen Wraiths engaged their cloaks and vanished from sight, leaving the eight frigates alone against the swarm of Mutalisks.

"Arm missiles boys and girls! We're going in hot!" Queen barked over her COM link to the two formations, as with practiced ease, armed her own. Green and red lights flashed around her. Queen's craft was ready to engage.

Her HUD flashed red; the frigates were now in range. Queen forced the terror and fear down, and pulled her thin lips into a savage and predatory smile. "All ships… show these Sky Fucks why the UED rules the skies."

Streaks of smoke flew from the missile carriages of the eight craft, as bright tails of orange, red, and yellow sped towards the Mutalisks and detonated. Blood, guts and gore rained to the ground, as over half of the Mutalisks were shredded by the massive missile barrage.

Immediately Queen and the seven other frigates slowed their machines down, and banked away from the conflict, in order to set up another attack run. Her dark eyes caught bright flashes of red from the invisible Wraiths, as Commander Johnston moved in to engage the remaining Zerg flyers.

_

* * *

_

This is too easy

. Snakebite thought savagely, as he dropped behind one of the surviving Mutalisks, hidden in the veil of his machine's cloaking device. Without even knowing what had hit it, the Mutalisk was torn apart but a blast of laser fire from the T-shaped fighter.

It was a scene that had become very common; unable to see the humans and their crafts, the surviving Mutalisk were cut down by their unseen enemies, as they tried to regroup. Snakebite smiled in satisfaction, has he strafed the scattering Zerg.

_A few more passes and this group will be nothing more then several new paint marks on my bird_. Snakebite smiled triumphantly, as another Mutalisk burst into flame and smashed into the ground in a splatter of blood. _And none too soon, energy reserves are almost gone._

Even as the thought crossed his mind, several Wraiths became visible against Char's ash choked sky. In an instant the remaining Zerg flyers, swarmed the helpless pilots. Snakebite watched in horror as a Glaive cut through the wing and into the cockpit of his wingman.

Dark, red blood splattered the windshield, as the Glaive bit, and tore through the pilots flesh, and sent the burning wreck of his Wraith smashing into the ground, exploding in a ball of fire. Snakebite caught sight of another Wraith, as it spun out of control, the left wing having been sheared off, by a Mutalisk's Glaive. The Wraith slammed into a lake of lava, and disappeared from sight.

Red flashes lit up on Snakebite's dashboard, as the last of the energy drained from his batteries. The cloak shimmered, then failed. He was now visible, and exposed. In an instant several Mutalisks converged on him, firing their razor sharp Glaives. Snakebite's Wraith shuddered, as a Glaive left a large gouge in the hull of his craft. Only long experience, and natural instincts had saved Johnston from a killing strike.

"Sir! Get the fuck out of the way NOW!" Queen cried over the COM link.

"All Wraiths disengage now! Pull up." Instantly the fourteen remaining craft, pulled back on their control sticks, opened their throttles and shot straight into the sky. Below them over five dozen streaks of bright red, orange and yellow fire, slammed into the remaining Mutalisks. The inferno caused by the timely arrival of the Valkyries consumed what had remained of the Mutalisk strike force. Snakebite breathed out a sigh of relief as the two formations regrouped.

"That was way too close, thanks for pulling our asses out of the fire Queen. Come on let's regroup with the drop ships and get the fuck outta…"

"MAYDAY, MAYDAY! Zerg have attacked the formation! Repeat: the formation is under attack by Zerg flyers! Were the fuck are our escorts!?"

Snakebite swore under his breath, as he pulled his craft into a high-G turn, his squadron following his silent command turned with him. Dozens of Zerg flyers were strafing the formation, as the helpless drop ships swerved in zigzag patterns to avoid the deadly projectiles.

A heavily damaged drop ship suddenly dropped from the formation, as blue sparks, and yellow flames burst from the gouges, and scars from the Glaives. Unable to continue flying, the heavy machine plowed into the dark grey earth, where it erupted into a bright ball of fire, killing the twelve men still trapped inside.

* * *

Above the funeral pyre, the surviving fourteen Wraiths, and the vast swarm of Mutalisks, joined together in a deadly dance. Queen and her Valkyries looked on helplessly, as the Wraiths attacked, and they were unable to do anything. The drop ships were to close to the Mutalisks, if the Valkyries were to fire a barrage of their HALO missiles, the drop ships would be hit too.

Queen looked on as two more Wraiths exploded, sending fiery wreckage crashing into the Char's ash covered surface. Bright red blood rained to the surface as several Mutalisks were shredded by laser fire from the experienced, well trained, and brave Wraith pilots.

Slowly the Mutalisk realized, that if they were going to deal with the drop ships, they first needed to deal with their guardians. Leaving the seven damaged transports, the mindless bugs flew up and attacked the remaining Wraiths. The Wraiths now seeing that they had the full attention of the flying bugs, pulled into another high-G turn, and sped straight towards the waiting Valkyries.

Streaking through the sky in a series of acrobatics, the Wraiths taunted the Mutalisks, as they twisted, dived, and spun. Queen watched the spectacle as she armed her missiles, waiting for her shot to present itself. Suddenly as one the Wraiths dropped from the sky and sped towards Queen and her Valkyries.

"Queen, open fire NOW!" Snakebite screamed over the COM.

Without hesitation Queen, and her seven other Valkyries launched their payload. Sixty-four missiles launched from the eight ships. Then just as it seemed that the Wraiths would be caught in the inferno of the HALO missiles, the twelve Wraith pilots dived. The missiles flew overtop of them and slammed into the wave of Mutalisks. Blood, gore and bits of flaming pieces of Zerg, flew out from the inferno.

"Yeehaaww! That's what I'm talkin' about!" Redneck exclaimed gleefully. "Damn stupid bugs!"

"Yeah! Hey Redneck, how many Zerg did you bag newbie?" A Wraith pilot asked

"Three…hold on… I'm 'bout ta make it four!" Redneck shot back as one of the few surviving Mutalisk flew past him.

Redneck accelerated and flew up and rolled over his target, dropping down right behind the winged Zerg. A blast from his laser cannons ripped through the Mutalisks thin wing membrane, and sent it spiraling into the ground.

"Nice shot newbie! Let's wipe out the rest of these bugs and rejoin the formation." Snakebite ordered as he rejoined his squadron. "You all did well, and when we get back to base the drinks are on… Newbie look out!"

A glob of purple goo suddenly splattered over Redneck's craft, as several large, fast flying giant worms came flying out of the ash clouds that covered Char. Redneck quickly banked his craft to the left, in a desperate attempt to shake the thick purple goo from his machine.

"Aww, shit! What the hell is this stuff?"

"Redneck you okay?" Snakebite asked as he opened a video link with his newest pilot.

"Yeah I'm alright… wait… OH GOD!" Redneck's eyes widened over the video link. "THIS STUFF! IT'S EATING THROUGH THE COCKPIT! IT'S… AHHHHHH! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! AHHHHHHH!"

Snakebite fought down the urge to throw-up, as he tried to shut off button for the vid-link. The purple goo had dripped onto the helpless, screaming pilot's face. The acid slowly ate away at Redneck's face, burning away patches of skin, and eating through muscle and bone. As Redneck tore at his face with his hands, trying desperately to clear the acid off his face.

Snakebite breathed deep, and did the only thing he could do. He dropped down behind the dying pilot's Wraith, locked on, and fired a RAGCON missile. The missile tore through the weakened armour of the Wraith and detonated, tearing the spacecraft apart in a bright fireball. Mercifully ending the young pilot's torment.

"I'm sorry kid." Snakebite whispered as he banked right to engage the new Zerg.

_Devourer_. Snakebite remembered hearing about them during briefings. Spawned from Mutalisks, they were bred for one thing. Destruction of the Swarms airborne enemies. Incredibly fast and extremely tough, their toxic venom could eat through the hulls of even the largest and toughest battlecruisers.

However, their large bodies, and poor agility made them easy prey for the Wraiths RAGCON missiles. An advantage that the versatile Wraiths were quick to exploit. Keeping out of range of the Devourers toxic spray, the Wraiths would launce their missiles then quickly turn out of range.

Snakebite watched in glee, as one of his missiles, ripped through the armoured hide, and detonated, showering his vehicle in copious amounts of blood and gore.

Suddenly the four surviving Devourers dived, and headed straight for the slow moving, and unarmed transports. Snakebite cursed as he, and two of his wingmen dived after them.

Missiles streaked from the Wraiths undercarriage, as Snakebite desperately tried to stop the massive worms. Three of the Devourers erupted into explosions of blood and guts, as RAGCON missiles slammed into them. Unfortunately the fourth one dropped behind a damaged transport, and slathered it in its toxic goo, before a missile slammed into it.

The transport slowly sputtered and died, as numerous electrical systems, their cords and power supplies destroyed, failed. The large ship quickly lost altitude and crashed into a lava lake, and slowly sank from sight.

"Is that it?" Queen asked over a video link.

"Yep, scanners are showing the sky is Zerg free. Finally." A Wraith pilot answered as she wiped sweat from her forehead with a gloved hand.

"Good, let's join up with what's left of the formation and get the fuck out of here."

With that the eleven Wraiths and eight Valkyries banked to the right, and fell into formation with what remained of the drop ships. Snakebite leaned back in his seat as he breathed out a deep sigh. He had several letters to write, one to a wife and kid who would never meet her real dad. Life was sure fucked up sometimes.

* * *

Kim Possible was not happy. What should have been a quick and easy drop was anything but. Twenty-four men were missing or dead and the mission hadn't even started yet. Kim growled under her breath as the door to the transport slowly lowered allowing, a blast of ash and dust to fill the crowded hold. Men gasped and coughed as the dust

Kim leapt from the transport and gasped as she looked around. Dark red blood dripped from numerous piles of dead Zerg. Deep tracks, shell craters, dead Ultralisks, with huge holes through their head plates singled to her that the missing armoured platoon had indeed been through here.

"Looks like our boys sure gave them hell. Eh ma'am?" Ron called out her as he leapt from his own transport. His armoured feet making a heavy thump as he landed amid a swirl of volcanic ash.

"Sure as hell does!" Kim yelled back, "Okay boys get a LZ cleared so we can unload the Goliaths when they get here. Treaston, Wilksen, Zalrine; get your squads into cover; I don't want anything sneaking up on us. L'Heux, Golhiem, you're on clean up duty. Stoppable, I want you to make sure these Zerg are really dead."

Dust swirled as the booted feet of six dozen soldiers moved to their assigned duties. Loud bangs could be heard echoing throughout the battlefield as armoured marines put hypersonic rounds through the heads of dozens of corpses. Others grunted with the effort of moving those corpses off the field.

During all of this, Kim's eyes never left the dark grey sky. Her eyes scanning for the rest of the drop ships carrying the other half of Delta Company. A loud roar singled the arrival of the drop ships as half a dozen ships burst from the ash filled sky.

Even from this distance Kim could see that something was wrong. Black smoke wafted from half of the machines, while sparks and small fires were clearly visible on the rest. Kim took a quick count of the heavily damaged craft. _Two Valkyries and four drop ships!_ Kim thought angrily, as the craft landed in the cleared area.

Men rushed from the drop ships, their quick movements and relieved expressions, told her everything she wanted to know. The second formation had been hit and hit hard. Quickly Kim scanned the men searching for one of the officers, she needed a report.

The limping form of 2nd Lieutenant Felix Renton, slowly hobbled up to her, his face slightly green from the flight, his breathing heavy as he shifted his weight painfully.

"Good to see you alive and well Ma'am." Renton grinned as he bent over trying to catch his breath.

"Renton." Kim nodded, "what the hell happened out there?"

Renton's blue eyes became as cold and as hard as ice. "What didn't happen? We were ambushed. The whole area was so thick with bugs the pilots had to go off course. That was a mistake by the way. We ended up traveling right over a Zerg Hive; our escorts sacrificed themselves so the remaining dropships could escape."

Renton turned to look at the LZ, out of eight ships, only four drop ships had made it past the gauntlet. Forty-eight men and four Goliaths on top of the twenty-four in the first group. Seventy-two casualties. Over a quarter of Delta's strength, and they hadn't even started yet.

"Mankey? Soruchi? Did they make it?" Kim asked almost fearfully.

Renton nodded. "Josh's over by the Goliaths, trying to help patch them up. Yori's helping with the wounded."

"Good." Kim breathed out, as she activated her COM. "Ron you there?"

"Yeah, what do you need ma'am?"

"I want you to pick a couple of squads and see if you can find out were the platoon wandered off too. If you find them radio back, but under no circumstances are you to make contact with them, understood?"

"You think that they might have gone AWOL ma'am?" Ron asked after a brief pause.

"I don't know Ron, but nobody has died erring on the side of caution."

"Understood ma'am. I'll report back to you in a couple of hours."

With that Kim shut off her COM and turned to Renton. "Renton, I want you to suit up and go after him, having the extra fire power should come in handy. And send Mankey and Soruchi over to me, we have a rendezvous with a squad of Ghost Agents."

Renton nodded and limped off. As soon as he was out of ear shot Kim turned to the empty horizon behind her. "You can deactivate that cloak now Du. I already know you're here."

"I see your senses are still as sharp as ever, amateur." An arrogant voice spoke from nowhere as three shapes shimmered, as their cloaks were deactivated. A young Chinese man smirked at Kim as he pulled of his mask. Cold, dead eyes bored into Kim's green as the two glared at each other in mutual hatred.

"No need for the name calling Du. You're just upset that the Princess here beat all your scores back at the Facility." The middle Ghost Agent sneered as she removed her mask. Allowing her long raven black hair to cascaded down her back, while dark, cold green eyes glinted in the near darkness of Char's surface.

"What I want to know Shego-san, why we're being forced to work with cannon-fodder? Surely we can complete such a tiresome task without the help from these _lower-humans_."

"We're here to help because DuGalle has a hard-on for Special Forces groups, Fukushima. If you don't like it, I'm sure he would kindly send you back to the rat hole of a prison that you were rescued from."

The one called Fukushima pulled his mask of, reveling a young man of Japanese decent. A long, wickedly sharp katana rested on the man's back, the hilt resting above his right shoulder. While his rifle rested on a sling on his chest.

Shego turned away from her squad mates. "Hey Kimmie! Long time no see."

Kim nodded at woman, a slight smile tugging at her lips. "I see your nickname stuck even after you promised to eviscerate anybody who was dumb enough to use it, eh Shego?"

The pale woman shrugged. "If I was to do that, the UED would be lacking several thousand troops."

"Fukushima-san! I didn't think I would see you again." Yori's excited voice broke into the conversation, as the young woman rushed up to the small group. Slowing down, Yori bowed to her old friend.

"Yori-chan." Fukushima acknowledged, as he bowed to her. Soon the two were jabbering away in rapid Japanese.

"Shego. Du." Mankey nodded at the two Ghost Agents.

"Mankey." The two nodded back.

"So tell me amateur, have you discovered anything about the missing platoon yet? Or are you only getting your cannon-fodder into shape now?" Du asked, a smug smile spreading on his lips, as Kim eyes narrowed.

"Unfortunately we just landed, Zerg flyers delayed us. I was only able to discover that the platoon past through here, and, as you can see made one hell of a mess." Kim growled, pointing to the piles of Zerg scattered around the area. "I have however sent my XO ahead with a couple of squads, so we'll just sit tight and wait for him to radio in."

"Do you think it wise to trust cannon-fodder with such an assignment, Kimberly?" Du asked pointedly, "they are known to screw up royally. Don't you think you should have waited, then sent one of us, an actual Ghost on this sort of mission? Such an amateurish mistake Captain."

Kim growled at the smug agent. "Yes. I know for a fact that I did the right thing sending Stoppable up ahead…"

"Stoppable's your XO?" Shego interrupted, generally surprised. "And you haven't killed him yet? You're getting soft Pumpkin."

"I… I made a mistake about Stoppable. I know that now."

Du, however smirked. "You should have killed him for what he did. But then again I guess even cannon-fodder has it uses, eh Possible?"

Before Kim could bite back with a retort, Ron's voice came over the radio. "Ma'am this is Stoppable do you copy over."

"Yeah I hear you. A little early for you to be radioing in."

Ron breathed out a heavy sigh, over the COM it sounded like a rush of static. "Not really Ma'am we found the platoon, only a klick away from where you are now."

Kim's eyes widened in surprises as the five Ghosts turned to her, listening in on her conversation. "Then keep your voice down! I told you not to make contact with them."

"No reason to worry about that Kim. Their already dead."

* * *

Dhun, Dhun, Dhun, Dhaaaaaaa. Chapter seven alright. I hope you guys enjoyed the air battle, and yes I know Wraiths don't really stand a chance against Mutalisks. You guys have no idea how much I hate the Zerg. Their so overpowered it's not even funny. Damn Bugs. Well I'm off to get my ass handed to me by a Korean now. Wish me luck. Don't forget to review.


	8. They Are Indestructible, Masters of War

**The Brood War: **_Chapter 8: They're Indestructible, Those Masters of War_

The bodies of the missing platoon were far out numbered by the bodies of the Zerg. Piles of Hydralisks lay on top of one another, red blood pooling beneath them as it dripped from their wounds. Dead Ultralisks lay here and there, the beast bodies having been rent apart by tank fire, that had come from the now burnt out husks. While numerous heaps of Zerglings smoldered like funeral pyres, filling the small gorge with the stench of burning carcasses.

Ron surveyed the scene with almost weary eyes. Grey-armoured bodies lay where they had fallen. Some had died while in cover, the vast majority however; were scattered on the open ground. Whatever had killed the platoon had hit them hard and had hit them fast.

"What do you think, Ron-man?" Felix asked, as the veteran Goliath pilot surveyed the grisly scene, from the cockpit of his machine.

Ron didn't answer. Instead he lifted his rifle and shot off a burst at one of the burning tanks. Sparks ricocheted off the armour platting as the bullets struck home. The two dozen men quickly dropped out of sight, not wanting to present a target incase of reprisal.

Nothing. Only the crackle of the fires, and the small echo of a thermal induced wind, sounded through the gorge. Ron raised his head searching the battlefield for any sign of movement.

"I think whatever killed the platoon; hit them while they were mopping up a pervious attack by these fucking bugs." Ron finally answered, as he sat up on a knee. "Alright keep your goddamn eyes peeled, and be on the look out for anything out of the ordinary. I want you boys to stick to rule thirty-six: use cover as much as possible. The only visible target should be the soon to be dead mother fucker in your gun sights. Renton, I need you to provide use cover from here."

The two squads quickly descended the hill, ducking behind boulders and natural rock walls. Though the descent took less then five minutes, to the men it felt like a life time, their eyes constantly surveyed the battleground, and scanned the opposite ledge, waiting for hostiles to open fire, catching them in the open.

Ron ducked behind a dead Ultralisk and slowly scanned the scene. Nothing moved, the heavy silence pressed down on him, increasing his unease and heightening the tension. With a series of waves, Ron spread his men out, covering the opposite ledge. If anything tried to ambush them from there, they were in for an unpleasant surprise. But just incase…

"Wade you there buddy?"

A few seconds later, the young, slightly overweight Major appeared on Ron's view screen.

"I'm always here, Stoppable. What can I do for you?"

"Is any artillery available for a bombardment?"

Wade grinned as he hit a couple of computer keys. "Just a sec… there we go. The 371st has three batteries on stand by, not more then six klicks from your position. Give me the coordinates, and I'll relay them back to the commander."

Ron grimaced, knowing he wasn't going to like the next few minutes, as he quickly read the coordinates of his HUD's built in GPS. "Foxtrot 45678 East, 57890 North. Danger close. Fire for effect. Over."

Several seconds past in complete silence, then the screeching of the shells came from over head. Men covered their heads and ducked behind their cover, as two and a half dozen 120mm high explosive shells crashed into the ridge.

The explosion was deafening, the very ground shuddered and shook, as more shells crashed into the ridge, consuming it in a fireball of shrapnel and chunks of volcanic rock. Like the rest of his men, Ron had covered himself and hid behind the dead Ultralisk. He hated bombardments, the screaming and whistling of the shells, the noise of the thunderous explosions, and the constant thought that if the gunner was even one degree off, the results could be disastrous.

A full three minutes passed, then the whistling and screeching of the shells quieted, then stopped. Only three minutes, three minutes that passed as though they were millennia. As Ron slowly shook of the lingering effects of the bombardment, it occurred to him that one never got used to the shock of artillery. His mind slowly drifted to Korhal, where the enemy's guns had zeroed in on him and his patrol. Ron remembered diving into a foxhole, screaming and praying for the nightmare to stop, he just wanted it to stop. Ron remembered not caring if he was hit by a shell, he just wanted the shells to stop their whistling, screeching, and thunder.

"Head in the game Stoppable, get your head in the game." Ron told himself as he shook his head. Glancing up, he waved over at two medics, huddled behind a large boulder. "Van de Light, Gossman, get over here."

The two medics responded with a short nod. Gossman peeked out from their cover, studying the ridge. Though they knew that the artillery should have made hamburger meat out of anything that was on the ridge, the two had been in the service long enough to know that nothing is for certain, and every plan needs a back-up plan, which also needs a back up plan, which also needs an emergency plan. Rule forty-three.

Nothing moved. The two medics shared a look, nodded two each other, lifted their heavy shields over their heads, and bolted from their cover. Their heavy boots came down with thunderous strikes in the empty silence, as both expected barbs, spikes, and Glaives to be fired down on them as they moved. Nothing.

The two medics ducked behind the dead Ultralisk, to join their CO. "Sir you wanted to see us?" Medical officer Rachel Gossman asked her breathing heavy, coming pants.

Ron glanced at the massacre again as he nodded. "We're going to check for survivors, and I want you two to find out what killed them."

Medical officer Klaas Van de Light looked dubious as he scanned the scene as well. "It's pretty obvious sir as to what killed them. Judging from the large number of Zerg here."

Ron's mind told him the same thing, that there was no reason to investigate, that the masses of dead Zerg were the ones responsible. But his gut was telling him something else, that something was wrong here, and when it came to matters of importance, like where to eat, or what holo-show to watch, the gut won every time.

Ron shook his head. "Something's wrong. I want to find out what." Turning away from the slaughter he called Felix over his COM channel. "Felix where are you man?"

"Right were you left me Ron-man. Why would I be anywhere else?" Came the cheerful response, from his friend.

Ron felt a grin tug at his lips at the good natured bantering. "Ain't my fault your stuck in that walking tin can."

"Hey! My baby is not a walking tin can! It's a fully functional Mech assault vehicle. Besides it carries more firepower then your grunt ass does Stoppable."

"Yeah, whatever you say there, Felix. Listen I need you to keep an eye out on that ridge. If you see anything move, waste it."

"You got it Ron-man. If I see anything move in the area you just bombed to shit, I'll be sure to kill it."

"Thanks Felix."

"Not a prob. Renton out."

Ron turned to the two medics and nodded at them, then carefully stepped out from the safety provided by the Ultralisk. Every step Ron took he was prepared to dive into cover, at every step he expected to hear the roar of Hydralisks, and to feel their barbs as they shot at the exposed Terran.

Several bloody images of his death flashed through Ron's mind as he tensed, ready to spring. Nothing. A whole lot of nothing. Scanning the ridge for a full minute Ron made a decision. They were clear. With a wave of his hand he told the medics that they were clear to advance.

The two medics nodded, and carefully move out of cover. Their heavy shields above their heads, even though their CO had given them the all clear. It wasn't that the two didn't trust him; it was just that the two knew that every situation could change in a heart beat. An area deemed clear can change from "secure" to "fucking bloodbath" in a matter of moments. Rule three.

As the two medics descended on the dead, Ron cautiously approached a prone soldier. The grey-armoured marine had fallen face first where he had died. His rifle held in a death grip. As Ron gently turned him over, and got a good look at the wounds, he felt his breath catch in his throat.

He had seen wounds like these before. On Braxis, then on Korhal. Ron could only think of one weapon that could make such wounds.

Bullets.

Soon the medics were reporting in other such findings. These men had been wiped out, by something carrying human weaponry. Ron quickly opened another COM-channel. He needed to tell the Captain.

* * *

Kim watched as grey armoured men went, about their final preparations, before leaving the staging area, gathering ammo, checking weapons and giving the machines one final diagnostic, before the order came to move out.

A glance to the side confirmed that Du and his squad were making their own final preparations, pooling mags, zeroing scopes, and sharpening blades. All they while talking amongst each other. Most likely about how angry and disgusted they were at having to work with _cannon-fodder_ and _lower humans_.

Suddenly thunder sounded in the distance, causing startled men to look up from their preparations, even Du and his fellow agents glanced up, as silence, save for the sound of distant shells exploding, filled the camp.

For a full three minutes, the thunder sounded, and Kim could not help herself, but she was worried. Worried for the men who would soon be putting their lives at risk. It was part of her personality, she liked to help people. But how could she help people if she ordered them to risk their lives in a war that none of them really understood?

"Do not worry Possible-san. I am sure that they will be alright. They have Stoppable with them after all."

Kim jumped slightly. She had been watching the horizon so intently that she failed to see or hear Yori sneak up on her.

"I thought you didn't like Stoppable Soruchi?"

Yori did not respond for a minute. Instead she stood beside Kim staring off into the horizon, listening to the sounds of the distant thunder. Finally she answered.

"I… I do not know if I can trust him or not. I was raised on Yamanouchi, a planet that holds a strict code of honour. How can I trust a man who turned his back on his men? What's more he did so to save who he could. It confuses me."

Yori paused for a moment, as she surveyed the men. "Be that as it may, I know he puts the lives of the men before anything else. Even his honour and pride."

Kim nodded. She understood, probably better than anyone. Though she had recently made peace with Ron, she really didn't know if she could ever forget, or fully forgive what he had done. Kim knew Ron didn't have time to think about what he should do. All he thought about was saving the men.

A Ghost leads an empty life, and not one of their own making. Kim had been ripped from her parents' arms when she was young barley four years old, and thrown into the living hell that was the Facility. Though she had been spared many of the horrors the other children had forced through, Kim still awoke late at night in tears, trying to banish the nightmares.

Josh had helped her beat the Facility, her friend, later lover, had helped keep her sanity, as she had helped him. Josh broke up with her after they had been reassigned. Kim remembered smiling at the time, bearing no ill will to the man who had helped to save her. Kim knew deep down that they were only meant to help each other through the worst part of their lives. Though she still loved Josh, it was more of a brotherly love than anything else.

Erik had been Kim's other lover. She had cared deeply for him, since before that men looked at her with something akin to fear and hatred in their eyes. But not him. Erik had not seen Kim the Ghost, Kim who could snap a man's neck like a twig, Kim who could put a bullet into a man's head from two kilometres away. Erik had just seen Kimberly Ann Possible, the woman.

Looking back on their discussion, only a few hours before, Kim realized that although she had been wrong about Ron, and had forgiven him for what she had perceived as him deserting, Ron had taken something precious from her. He had taken one of the few people who had seen past the Ghost, past the reputation and had seen her. Kim breathed out a small, sad sigh, they still had much to discuss.

Suddenly Kim's video link opened, filling her transmission screen, with the concerned features of Lieutenant Stoppable. Before she could ask him to report Ron spoke out

"Kim, the missing platoon was killed by human weaponry." His voice was filled with several emotions, ranging from anger and rage, to sorrow and concern.

Kim was taken aback that the platoon had been killed with Terran weaponry, meant one of two things. One: it meant that there was another undedicated Terran force on Char, or two: someone or something else was wielding the weaponry. Since Protoss seemed to prefer their own Psi and Warp blades over Terran guns, and cannon, and the Zerg were too animalistic to even understand how to use the weapons, that really only left option one. Except for the fact that scans indicated that there were no functioning power cores or working Terran technology.

She had to ask. "Are you sure Ron?"

Ron nodded in confirmation. "I've seen wounds like these on Braxis and Korhal. There is no way the Zerg could replicate bullet wounds."

For a moment or two Kim said nothing. On one hand, if something was using human weaponry, and had wiped out an armoured platoon, Ron's two squads would be vastly outnumbered, and overpowered. On the other if Kim attempted to regroup with him and his squads she could walk into an ambush, and with only three Goliaths and ninety-six men and five Ghosts, Kim's company was severely under strength.

Yori, who had been listening in on the conversation, said nothing. She trusted Kim's judgment. She waited patiently while Kim made up her mind.

Finally Kim made a decision. "Ron, Delta Company will move to your position. Get your squads out of there and rendezvous with us at these coordinates. I'll feel much better investigating when we're together."

Ron nodded. "You can say that again Kim. Alright try to meet up with you in a…" Suddenly Ron's eyes grew wide, and the colour drained from his face. "AWW, FUCK! WE GOT MOVEMENT ON THE RIDGE! OPEN FIRE! OPEN FIRE!"

As the sounds of small arms echoed in the background, the video link became fuzzy and weak, as though something was attempting to jam their communications. "Ron! What's going on? Report!" Kim screamed into her COM link.

"WE… OUNDED! REPE… WE… SURROUNDED… FESTED! …FESTED… IPED… PLAT…" The sound of static filled the link, as the connection was finally lost.

"Shit!" Kim swore as she tried to reconnect with the Lieutenant. "Ron! Report! What the hell is going on! Report!"

Nothing but the sound of static responded to her. Kim was furious; her men were outnumbered, out gunned and now out of radio contact. Who ever was responsible was going to pay. Big time.

"Come in Wade."

The young Intel officer appeared in Kim's view screen a moment later. His friendly smile changed instantly to a concerned frown when he noticed Kim's hard, stern glare.

"Hey Kim. What can I do for you?"

"I've lost radio contact with Stoppable, see if you can reconnect us."

Wade's fingers danced over the key board as he tried to re-establish communications with the in-periled Lieutenant. For several long moments all that could be herd was the rapid clicks of keys.

"God damn it." Wade cursed as he leaned back, a frustrated growl escaping from his throat. "I can't establish contact with Ron!"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"There's some kinda of spore being released into the air above his position. It's jamming radio and satellite signals."

"Fuck!" Kim cursed again, "Do you know what's causing this?"

Wade nodded. "My best guess is that there are several Defilers in the area. Until they're dealt with, there is very little I can do. I'm sorry but you're on your own for this one Kim."

Kim nodded, as Wade signed off, leaving the view screen blank, once again. Turning to Yori, Kim gave her a nod which Yori returned. There was no need for words. Both Kim and Yori knew what had to be done.

Kim quickly radioed her platoon leaders; her orders were quick, clear and precise. Lieutenant Stoppable was in trouble, and they were going to walk him out of Hell.

"Wilksen! Your squad has point! Jenston! Back him up with your Goliath! Du, I need you and your Ghost up here with me! Come on! Move you lazy mother fuckers! Move!"

Kim watched in satisfaction as groups of loose men began moving down the gorge. They moved quickly their weapons scanning everything as they moved. Both Kim and Yori, leapt from the small hill, and jogged up, joining Wilksen and his men.

"So what has the dumb fodder done this time Possible-sama?" Fukushima asked, as Du's group caught up to Kim and Yori.

"Stoppable and his men were ambushed as they were investigating the missing platoon. The Zerg have jammed their communications, and have them pinned down."

Du snickered as he shook his head. "I told you so. Sending cannon-fodder on a mission such as this was a stupid idea. But like the amateur you are, you ignored my advice. You should have sent a Ghost."

Shego nodded in agreement with Du. "I hate to tell you Kimmie, but Du here is right. Sending the sidekick off on a mission like that… well this sorta thing was bound to happen."

Kim never looked back, nor did she respond to the three Ghosts. Instead she kept walking, her eyes constantly shifting over the terrain in front of them, as Du continued.

"To think this all could have been avoided if you had just se…"

Du was cut off as the ground before them burst open, as several creatures jumped out from their hidden burrows. The men were momentarily stunned, as one of the creatures ran full tilt, jumped into the air, and collided with Jenston's Goliath. Both the creature and the Goliath exploded in a ball of fire.

More creatures appeared on the ridges, letting loose a feral scream, as they opened fired on the exposed company. Several men were cut down by the hostile fire, as the rest dived for cover.

Bullets kicked up chunks of rock and dust, as Kim made a dash for cover behind a large boulder, firing her rifle as she went. One of the creatures using the boulder for cover was dropped by her accurate fire, coating the rock in a spray of brains, and blood.

Ducking behind the rock, Kim finally got a good look at the creature. Bright-blue armour, could be seen underneath hideous growths, large, almost antenna like, appendages jutted out from the back of its neck. Over sized claw like hands, gripped a C-14 Impaler. But it was the face that truly frightened her, a short trunk-like snout jutted out from its face while feral red-eyes, though glazed over in death, seemed to still glare at her. However what frightened Kim, was that beneath the shell of the Zerg, Kim could see human like features.

In an instant Kim knew what these things were. They were the Infested. Humans who were exposed to the rapid evolution of the Zerg parasites, and turned into these shambling monstrosities. Devoid of anything resembling pity, or mercy, they augmented the Broods with human training, and human weaponry.

Kim ducked out from beneath the boulder. Her squads were pinned down, and fire from both sides of the ridge was causing causalities. She had to do something, and she had to something now.

"Mankey, Soruchi, Du, listen up. We're dead if we don't do something now!"

"Well if you have any plans I'd love to here them right about now." Shego snapped, as she brought down an Infested with a well placed shot to the neck.

"As a matter of fact I do. Mankey, Du, pick a side and give us sniper support. Shego, you and Soruchi take the east ridge, kill anything that moves up there. While me and Fukushima will take the west. Understood?"

* * *

Ron ducked, as another barrage of bullets slammed into his cover. The attack had caught him and his squad completely by surprise. Hiding in their burrows, the Infested had been unaffected by the heavy artillery. Deep underground, they had waited for the opportune moment to strike. Emerging from their burrows they opened fired on anything exposed.

Van de Light was dead. A shot had passed through his visor, tearing apart his head like a ripe melon. Gossman was wounded but still alive, hiding behind her shield while she attended to her arm. She needed help, but there was no-one to help her. Ron's fire teams were scattered, and preoccupied with the hostiles on the ridge. Ron himself was pinned down behind a small, natural rock wall.

Unable to get a shot in, Ron reached behind his back and pulled a grenade from the small pouch he carried on the back of his waist. Unable to see he pulled the pin out with his teeth and chucked it over the wall.

The grenade exploded ending the barrage of bullets that had been pelting his cover for the past several minutes. Glancing up Ron breathed out a sigh of relief as the grenade had done its job. Several Infested had been ripped apart by the shrapnel, spilling their guts onto the blackened ground, while two more, obviously badly wounded tried to crawl away.

Now was his chance to get Gossman and regroup with the fire teams. Jumping up he leapt over the small rock wall, only to be thrown back behind it, as a bullet passed through his shoulder. Pain exploded in his shoulder as Ron grabbed it, applying pressure to the wounded.

Grimacing, Ron clutched at and slowed his breath. Slowly the pain left him as his adrenaline spiked. Ron could feel something bubbling up inside of him. It wasn't fear, or anger, or even pain. It was laughter. It wasn't the warm laughter that you shared over a good joke. It wasn't the happy laughter you shared with your friends. It wasn't the high nervous chuckle of those afraid. It was cold, pitched, maniacal laughter. Soon it was too much and Ron couldn't help himself but to let it out.

"Booyah-ahahahahahahaha." Ron could feel his slips spread into a savage, maniacal smile. "MY TURN NOW MOTHER FUCKERS!"

Jumping back up to his feet Ron sighted down his sights. An Infested jumped up to fire another round. A well timed burst ripped opened the chest of the once-human being, showering it's fellows in it's gore.

"That's one." Ron whispered to himself, as he fired another short burst.

_Another mission  
The powers have called me away_

_Another time  
To carry the colours again _

The well placed burst ripped the arm of another one as it fired down on the wounded Gossman. The force of the bullets spun it around, causing it to tumble over it's cover and slide down the rocky ridge.

"That's two." Ron said to himself with the glee, as he slid a fresh mag into his gun.

Several bullets slammed into the ground beside him, as three more of the Infested charged him, kicking up dust and chunks of rock. Swinging his rifle around, Ron leveled it at the charging enemies, and squeezed off another burst, tearing a gaping hole in one of their chests, and sending it toppling to the ground. _  
_

_My motivation  
An oath I've sworn to defend  
To win the honour  
Of coming back home again  
_

"That's number three!" Ron cried out manically, the savage grin growing wider, as fresh blood stained the ground.

The two remaining Infested let out feral roars, as they continued their charge. The roars which had sent shivers of fear down the spines of the other marines, had no effect on Ron, to the contrary, it just caused him to laugh louder, as a well placed burst turned the fourth Infested's head into a pile of gore.

"That's Four!" Ron laughed out loud, even as the distance between him and the remaining Infested shrunk rapidly.

_No explanation  
Will matter after we begin  
Unlock the dark destroyer that's buried within  
_

Ron watched with savage glee, as the remaining Infested tossed its weapon away, as it charged full tilt, its hoof like feet kicking up volcanic ash and dust.

The look of savage glee, nor the maniacal glint in Ron's eye never faded, as he slapped his heavy rifle to his back, and pulled his side arm.

"Come to papa, you whore."

Suddenly the abomination leapt into the air, its powerful leg muscles sending it flying towards the laughing Lieutenant. Its oversized claws reaching out towards him, as it glared hatefully out of its red feral eyes.

As the Infested flew closer and closer towards him, Ron leveled his heavy pistol, closed one eye, and squeezed the trigger. The large caliber slug slammed into the Infested's head, sending brains and bone fragments out the back.

The large insect-like humanoid collapsed to the ground, as blood and brain matter leaked from the wounds.

"THAT'S FIVE! MOTHER FUCKERS! BOOYAH-AHAHAHAHAH!"

_My true vocation  
And now my unfortunate friend  
You will discover  
A war you're unable to win _

"FOR THE SWARM!"

The loud echoing cry made its self heard over the sounds of battle. As Ron turned toward the sound, he suddenly remembered that Gossman was still pinned down and wounded. Turning towards the scene he watched as several Infested attacked her, as she held them off with only her pistol.

_I'll have you know  
That I've become...  
_

_Well how nice of her to volunteer as bait. _Ron thought to himself, as he watched several more of the Infested converge on her position. _But I can't just walk out their I'll be shot to pieces. I need…_

Noticing movement out of the corner of his eye, Ron took a quick glance, and smiled wickedly at what he saw, as an idea came to his head. "Well what do we have here? Can someone say: Meat shield?"

_  
Indestructible  
Determination that is incorruptible  
_

Ron leapt over the small rock wall that had provided him cover for the past several minutes. Bullets whizzed over head as several Infested opened fire on him as Ron charged over the bloody ground.

A few metres in front of him, a heavily wounded Infested made a vain attempt to escape, as it struggled to crawl away on all fours.

"Where do you think your going?" Ron asked as he roughly grabbed the wounded Infested, and pulled it in front of him, effectively creating a living barrier between himself and the bullets of the enemy.

"Hello my name is Ron. And you… You are my bullet sponge."

_From the other side  
A terror to behold  
Annihilation will be unavoidable  
_

Ron's feet slammed heavily into the ground as he charged over the battle ground. His left hand gripping the barley breathing Infested, his right, wrapped around the grip of his heavy caliber pistol.

As he charged across the open ground, bullets slammed into his living shield. Blood sprayed from the numerous wounds, as Ron's pistol roared out retorts.

_Every broken enemy will know  
That their opponent had to be invincible  
_

A bullet crashed into the head of an Infested, splattering the ground with bits of bone and blood. Another bullet from his pistol slammed into the bare and unprotected gut of another Infested, sending it to the ground screaming.

Men watched in astonishment, as their XO charged the Zerg position, with only one of their own between him and a bloody death. Felix for one had seen enough.

"Come on you fuckers! The LT is down there risking his life! Move it you God damn whores move it! Do you sons of bitches want to live for ever anyway?"

With that Felix's heavy caliber weapon opened fired on the Zerg. Large caliber bullets tore limbs of enemies, and ripped skulls apart, as though they were ripe melons. As Felix moved his Goliath closer to battlefield, the dozen and a half men cheered, and followed his lead, firing at anything that moved.

_Take a last look around while you're alive  
_

Ron watched as the Zerg positions were over ran by the tremendous amount of fire power of Felix and the remaining marines. Gripping the head of his now unneeded shield, Ron twisted the neck, until he heard the satisfying crack of the vertebrae breaking.

_I'm an indestructible Master of War!_

Shoving the dead Zerg of to the side, he watched as his men finished of the last few Zerg, when suddenly the wound in his shoulder exploded with pain.

Dropping to his knees, Ron wondered what he was doing here. He remembered he had been ducking behind a rock wall, but now, now he was almost a hundred metres away and he had no memory of how he got there. Slowly blackness engulfed him as he tumbled into unconsciousness.

* * *

Chapter Eight is done! Hope you all liked my tribute to Gears of War 2, and the song I selected for this bit. The song by the way is called _Indestructible _by Disturbed, be sure to check it out when you get the chance.

I would also like to dedicate this chapter to Commander Argus, who recently passed away. His stories, along with MrDrP, Captainkodak1, Classic Cowboy, and Zaratan inspired me to start writing. To the Commander, You will be missed._  
_


	9. Rescue

Well sorry this took so long. But here it is, chapter nine of Kim Possible: Brood War.

I would like to thank those of you who have waited patiently, and did not resort to death threats, or threats of arson in an attempt to get me off my ass, and get this fic updated.

I would also like to thank Shockwave88 for his Beta-skills. So sit back, relax and enjoy.

**

* * *

**

**The Brood War:** _Chapter 9: Rescue_

_**Twenty-one Years before the UED Expedition**_:

_The Facility was the embodiment of Hell. _

_Though Kim was not a religious person because in truth, she had no use for such ancient and superstitious nonsense, Hell was the only word that she could think of to describe the Ghost Academy. It was the only way to describe the only home that she could remember; even the barren landscape of Char, filled with monstrous beings such as the Zerg, was no where near the Hell that Captain Kimberly Ann Possible associated with the Ghost Training Academy on Io. Kim was young when she had been taken from her family. Six at the most, not that she could remember her mother or father. Kim wasn't even sure that she even had a mother or father as the UED memory suppression chip that she had been implanted with had done its job well. What she did remember however, was eight straight years of intense and brutal training, designed to mold her and the other trainees into brutal, cunning, and merciless killing machines who thought of one thing and one thing only: complete the mission. No matter what the cost._

_In those eight years, Kim remembered being both whipped and beaten for not reading her varying teacher's minds correctly. How she was starved to the point where she no longer cared because the food tasted heavy and had the acidic twang of mixed in gunpowder. Kim had watched as a young boy was beaten to death by the combat instructor simply because he couldn't make the cut. She had watched as the razor sharp edge of a knife quickly slit open the dead boy's throat, draining him of his life's blood. The young initiates were forced to roll in the boy's blood, coating themselves with the red liquid in order to get them used to the horrors of war whilst also teaching them to revel in bloodshed. _

_By the tender age of twelve, Kim -along with her fellow trainees- had learned the ancient arts of killing. Her instructors were quite clear on that part as they had kept drilling it into them. "The Zerg and the Protoss are nothing special," one of the instructors said with his hard and pitiless eyes drilling into the trainees. As he spoke, the razor sharp knife spun effortlessly in his callused hand. "Though they look like invincible monsters, and mythical beings, they are not! These aliens are nothing but a system of bones, organs, and muscle wrapped in flesh. You shoot them; they die. You strangle them; they die. You stab them; guess what? They die. This is the most important lesson you will learn here, that there is no such thing as invincible beings, and monsters. There is only flesh, bone, and organs."_

_By that age, Kim had seen over a dozen people, a mixture of trainees and even a few guards and instructors, die in the most horrible and gruesome ways imaginable. She had watched as a woman's brain hemorrhaged as it was shattered by a student who was simply attempting to read her mind. At first, she had convulsed whilst shaking horribly as her eyes went up into the back of her head. White froth began forming at her mouth just before she collapsed to the ground, dead. Bright crimson blood slowly began to leak and trickle out from the corpse's eyes nose and ears. The student responsible had been rewarded with extra rations for a whole week. The next day however, the student was dead; she had died of 'natural causes' in her sleep. After all, being strangled with a piece of barbed wire would quite naturally end someone's life._

_In this hell-hole, there was no place for empathy; only the strongest survived and the weak died. Kim had always been a child who was concerned for others well-being, and as such she was often singled out by the instructors who had attempted to break this behavioral trait. When she shared what little food she had with the other trainees, they either put her on starvation rations or simply did not feed her at all. When she helped others during their intense, exhausting and often back breaking exercises, the instructors locked her in 'The Box'; a small, meter by meter steel coffin for sometimes days upon end. Even to this day, Kim still suffered from an acute and nerve racking case of claustrophobia, yet no matter what they did, the starvation and the Box failed to break the young Ghost cadet's spirit of empathy. The Facility, as it was known, was centered on creating fierce and independent, (or, at least independent to a point,) Ghost Agents, whose sole concern had to be their mission. An Agent who concerned themselves with the well being of others or their squad were considered weak and hopeless._

_By the time Kim had reached the age of fourteen, she had been deemed a failure by the higher ups; though she was at the top of the class, it was due to her compassionate nature that she was deemed a failure and as with all failures, Kim Possible was to be terminated and disposed off. It was then Kim met Rear-Admiral, soon to be Admiral Director. At first, Kim believed Director to be her savior, the one who would lead her out of this hell, the one who would deactivate the memory chip, and allow Kim just to go home._

"_What is your name Cadet?" Director had asked, after she had dismissed the training Sergeant who had escorted Kim from The Box. Her single brown eye had bored a hole into Kim with its intense gaze._

"_Cadet Kimberly Ann Possible, Ma'am." Kim responded, remembering the hours that they teachers had instructed her in proper responses, as she returned Rear-Admiral Director's glare with one of her own. It was a challenging glare that normally would have earned Kim an immediate trip to The Box for insubordination._

_Rear-Admiral Director had read reports on the young girl; Kim was the top in her class, a natural at hand to hand combat, and an even better shot. But most of the other sections were less then glowing, especially for a cadet Ghost. Kim would frequently challenge instructors, horde food and then share it out, make sure everyone was alright during training exercises and then work to get the trainees to finish together and in one piece. She would also take command during scenarios, which were designed to train the cadets to work in small independent squads without the support of a commanding officer. On and on the list went, with many more numerous accounts of insubordination. When the Director of the Ghost Academy looked at these reports, he saw failure. But when Rear-Admiral Director saw them, she saw an officer._

_Director was inwardly pleased. This fourteen year old girl had not been broken into a cold and merciless killing machine. It was not that the Rear-Admiral was against using Ghost Agents, nor did she believe that their training was too brutal; the aforementioned training after all, had produced both superior and elite soldiers. Ghosts were excellent at their jobs; the Rear-Admiral had witnessed a whole enemy base, and six platoons, wiped out by a small squad of just three. Their brutal training was, as Director saw it, a necessary evil. But where Rear-Admiral Director differed from her fellow officers is that she did not believe in terminating those cadets deemed 'failures.' She never allowed the pleasure she felt to show on her face as Director scrutinized the young girl; Kim was a prime example of the Facility simply wasting talent. Where the academy had failed at producing a Ghost Agent; Rear-Admiral Elizabeth 'Betty' Director would produce a fine Ghost officer. _

_**Thirteen Years Later:**_

Bullets skipped the ground, kicking up dust and flecks of rock as the men from Delta Company dived behind what little cover the gorge could offer them. Gray and heavily armoured soldiers of the UED fired short bursts at the blue armoured abominations, the Infested, which had ambushed them. Blood and bits of bodies flew as each side dug in and returned fire. Only one of the three Goliaths remained as the other two were smoking wrecks; the Infested had targeted them specifically, running a gauntlet of fire to throw themselves at the machines in order to send themselves and their targets into balls of fire, metal and shredded meat.

Ghost Captain Kim Possible closed one of her emerald eyes as she eyed down the scope of her rifle. She scanned the Infested lines, looking for a target. Her patient waiting was rewarded when an Infested Marine recklessly jumped out from behind its cover. The slug ripped through the Infested's head as if it were made of tissue paper and quickly painted the rock behind it with blood, bone and brain matter.

"Nice shot, Possible-san," Yori congratulated her, as she lifted up her own rifle and fired into the horde of abominations that kept their task force from advancing.

"No big, Yori. All it takes is a little patience," Kim whispered back, before squeezing the trigger yet again. She watched in satisfaction as the bullet ripped through the armoured chest of another Infested Terran.

"Oh, I don't know," Shego remarked, "it looked to me like it went off centre."

The pale Ghost lifted up her own rifle and glanced down the scope. A second later, the rifle cracked and the slug it released caught an Infested square between the eyes, sending it spinning into the rocky ground.

"Now that! That was a nice shot!"

Kim shook her head. "I don't know Shego. I mean, yeah, you caught the piece of shit right between the eyes, but you seemed to be a little slow on your reaction time, and the target was barely three-quarters of my shot."

"Whatever Princess. Tell you what, fifty credits says that you can't hit your next one through the eye at half the distance."

"I do not think Possible-san, that this is the best time to be betting with each other," Yori interrupted, bringing an end to the competitive banter. "We do have a horde to deal with first, and Stoppable-san to rescue…if he is still alive."

Kim nodded, feeling somewhat embarrassed that she allowed he natural competiveness to, albeit momentarily, distract her from her mission. "Head in the game, Possible. Keep your head in the game."

Lifting her rifle, Kim drew a bead on one of the stampeding monsters. Her training filled her thoughts. "Be calm, wait. Wait and watch, breath, slowly, calmly. Never take your eye of the target. Breath. Squeeze, don't pull. Squeeze as you breathe." As Kim let out a breath, her finger squeezed the trigger. The rifle cracked, and the recoil slammed into her shoulder. The slug tore into the Infested right through its right eye. The monsters head snapped back, and the Zerg collapsed. The corpse was soon mulched beneath the feet of the horde.

Turning to grin at the pale and black haired woman beside her, the red haired Ghost gave Shego a cheeky grin. "Lucky for you, we never shook on it, huh, Shego?"

Instead of answering her, Shego harrumphed and turned away.

Grinning to herself, Kim turned back to her targets...only for an enraged roar to make itself heard as the Infested charged once again, not caring for the amount of fire that swept through their ranks as Delta Company violently repelled wave after wave. A bullet slammed into the rock behind her, showering Kim and Yori with flecks of rock as Shego returned fire, catching the Infested in the stomach.

"Well, this is getting us nowhere," Kim thought to herself as her accurate sniper fire dropped yet another Infested Marine. Even as its blood and brain matter leaked from the new hole it had just received, courtesy of Ghost Captain Kim Possible, its companions either merely rushed around or scrambled on top of its corpse without casting the hunk of flesh even a glance with their soulless, red eyes.

"Du! Mankey! We could really use your help right now! Tell me you're in position!" Kim screamed into her COM, in an effort to make herself heard over the sounds of small arms fire and heavy calibre weapons.

"Of course we are. We are set up and prepared to provide sniper support, Captain." Du replied, spitting out her rank with as much contempt as possible. "Though I must protest, there is no way your plan is going to work, amateur, whatever it is."

"It will work. Trust me." Kim shot back, ignoring Du's digs and insulting manner.

"Only as far as I can throw the _Aleksander_."

Du closed the COM-channel before Kim could respond. Pushing down both her anger and the need to put her boot up Du's ass, Kim switched her COM-channel. "Shego, Soruchi, when I give the signal, activate your cloaks and get up that ridge. Du, Mankey, give them sniper support. Once you two are up there, I want you to target the back of these Zerg, and feed Wade the coordinates. Fukushima, I need you with me. We'll take up position on the western flank and keep those damn bugs from eating our Goliath. We'll trap them between a creeping artillery barrage and our heavy weapons. Understood?"

Only four calls of conformation answered her. Turning to the other two Ghosts, Kim realised that Fukushima had vanished. A burst of small arm fire forced the three Ghosts to go to ground as the Infested line charged yet again.

"Fukushima, come in." Kim called over her COM-channel. Only static answered her.

"Fukushima! Respond!" Again, no response, and the Zerg line was getting closer. The Task Force was created for quick, rapid advances, or for deep strikes behind enemy lines. TFGJ was now fighting a battle of attrition, against an enemy who likely outnumbered them, dozens, if not hundreds to one. And now, the task force was missing one of its Ghosts.

Suddenly, the last remaining Goliath that had remained with Kim's command exploded in a spectacular fire ball, shredding several nearby soldiers and Infested with burning pieces of white hot shrapnel. What remained of Task Force GJ's heavy weapons were now gone.

The Infested charged. The tired and battered men of Delta Company fought back with the tenacity of a cornered animal. Magnetically accelerated Impaler spikes ripped through the armoured beasts, tearing the creatures apart and ripping their limbs from their bodies and staining the black ash filled ground red with blood. But it was not enough.

The Zerg closed in on the UED line, heedless of their own casualties as they trampled those both dead and dying with their unstoppable momentum. Kim, and the other Ghosts, held their line, not bothering to aim at specific targets. They were firing as rapidly as possible into the charging Zerg line.

The ridge that protected the UED's right flank was suddenly engulfed in several large explosions. With an ear splitting crack, and an earth shaking rumble, the explosions kicked off an avalanche. Large boulders rumbled down the steep, face of the ridge, knocking more rocks and rubble free as the rock slide picked up speed before finally crashing into the ranks of the tightly packed Infested.

Kim and the others quickly covered their faces with their masks, while the surviving Marines sealed their helmets. This kept Delta Company from choking on the dust filled air. The Zerg were not so lucky. Those who were not crushed beneath the falling rocks and boulders were now trapped between the avalanche and the vengeful Marines. The remaining Infested died quickly.

As the thirty-four survivors of Delta stared in shock, the last of the dust cloud finally cleared away. The rock-slide had buried most of the entire horde beneath several tonnes of ash coloured rock. The few that survived were quickly killed by the surviving Marines. As the seconds ticked by, and as the remainder of the company stared in shock, it was Shego who finally asked the question that danced through everyone's mind.

"What the fuck was that?"

Before Kim could answer the question, her COM came to life. "I believe that we are able to advance now, Possible-san."

Fukushima.

"Where the hell did you go?!" Kim barked into her COM. "His COM must have taken some damage," Kim thought to herself, as only static and fuzz filled Fukushima's view screen.

Before the man could respond, Du cut in with his picture flickering to life in the bottom corner of Kim's HUD. "Well, from what I can tell, Possible, it looks like Fukushima stopped your plan from going to hell."

"I don't remember asking you, Will!" Kim snapped. Du's image shrugged before it vanished from her HUD. Fukushima's image finally flickered to life.

Fukushima bowed his head. "I am sorry, Possible-san. I merely saw an opening, and I took it, as our training dictates."

"I had a plan! A plan that would have worked, and would have kept our losses minimal if you had been patient and followed my orders!" Kim shouted at the other Ghost.

Du, at this moment, chose to interrupt yet again. "It is not your place to reprimand or berate my soldiers, Possible. Fukushima responded to a desperate situation in the manner befitting a Ghost Agent."

Before Kim could respond, Josh interrupted her. "Captain, I think this an argument better saved for later. Stoppable needs our help."

Kim shook her head. Josh was right. Stoppable was in trouble. It was up to them to get him out of it. Kim quickly changed her COM-channel. "Wade, come in."

Her HUD's view screen quickly flickered to life, bringing Major Wade Load up on screen. "What do you need, Kim?"

"I need an update on Stoppable's sitch. Right now!"

Wade shook his head sadly even as his fingers danced on his keyboard. "Sorry Captain, the Defiler's are still wreaking havoc on the COM channels. I can't even get visuals."

"Damn it!" Kim swore. "Can you find them?"

"I can try," Wade replied as the sounds of rapid clicks of keys filtered through the COM.

"Got them," the young Intel officer grinned. "There's three of them, not too far from your position... and it seems like most of the Zerg which were protecting them have moved out already. I'm uploading the coordinates now."

"Right, one more thing Wade. I need you to dispatch a med-evac to Stoppable's last known location."

Wade nodded, as he typed in the order. "You got it Kim."

Kim breathed out a sigh of relief. Their job just got so much easier. "Thanks Wade. You rock."

"I know. But it's still good to hear it now and again"

The COM closed, and Wade's image disappeared. Turning to the men who had rejoined her, Kim quickly issued her orders. "Mankey, take five men, and go after the Defiler that's hiding just west of here. Soruchi, take another five, and go kill the one that's burrowed in the north-east. Shego, same deal, take five, and kill the one in the north-north-west. Once that's done, rendezvous with us at Stoppable's position. Du, Fukushima and the rest of you, you're with me. Understand?"

A disjointed chorus of "Yes, ma'am!" greeted her. Only Du and Fukushima remained quiet.

"Good! Alright, let's move out."

--

Goliath Pilot, Second Lieutenant Felix Renton, had been on the receiving end of some very shitty days. There had been the time when he had discovered, much to his horror, the ingredients of his high school's main source of nutrients. Then there was the time that his girlfriend had broken up with him, only to hook up with the captain of the chess team. That had been a real stinger, considering the chess captain was an overweight, cross-eyed, girl. But today, well, today was quickly reaching up to spot number one of Felix Renton's Top Ten Shittiest Days.

First off, Felix only had nine men who could actually stand and fight; seven others were grievously wounded. The rest were dead. Second off, the commanding officer was among those wounded and was now unconscious, oblivious to the world and the dangers they were in. Finally, reason number three was that the squad had been under almost constant attack by Infested.

Felix's targeting computer lit up, and Felix quickly fired of a burst of large calibre rounds which almost sawed an Infested Marine in half. He watched in mild satisfaction as its guts spilled from the gaping hole in its stomach.

In his mind, Felix knew that it was hopeless. Even as his machine scored another kill, separating an Infested's body from its head and splattering the ground with hot, red blood, there were just too many of them. Too many Zerg. Yet still, the Marines of the UED held their ground. If they were going to die, well...they would take as many of these bastards down with them.

"FOR THE SWARM!"

Again the Zerg charged, trampling those who had been cut down by the hail of Impaler rounds and smearing their blue coloured boots with the dark red blood of their fellow abominations. As they charged up the ridge where Felix and the remainder of his squad were making their last stand, bullets ripped into the charging horde. Infested limbs and organs were torn from their sockets, chests were forcibly opened and forced to expose their disgustingly familiar inner treasures and the splattered pieces of brain and bone rained down upon their charging comrades in a thick and oppressive mist. The dead were quickly adding to the number of corpses that now rested at the bottom of the ridge.

A Marine screamed in pain as a bullet tore through his armour, shredding it like paper. Armoured hands grabbed at the wound in a desperate effort to keep the blood and guts inside his body. A burst of fire from another Marine's weapon returned the favour, sending the Infested responsible spinning and tumbling down the face of the ridge.

Felix knew it was wrong, but he couldn't help but envy the commanding officer, First Lieutenant Ronald Stoppable. The man had passed out, and was now lying with the rest of the wounded, muttering something about Nacos. Or monkeys. Medical Officer Grossman wasn't sure which.

In truth, Felix was surprised that Ron was still alive, considering that he had charged the Infested line with only a wounded Infested as a crude meat-shield. It was as if all sense of self-preservation had left the Lieutenant. Instead of staying behind cover, Ron had started, well...he had started laughing.

Not that Felix wasn't grateful for Ron's apparent abandonment of all sense. Ron's charge had saved Grossman after all, and had distracted the Infested allowing Felix to conduct a counter attack which pushed the Zerg back over the opposite side of the gully, giving the UED the breathing space they need to shore up their defences, and collect the dead and wounded.

Now, for almost an hour, Felix and the remainder of the two squads that had been sent out to discover the whereabouts of an armoured platoon that had vanished off the grid had fought off wave after wave of Infested. Sooner or later ammo would run dry, and that they would be overrun. Felix and the men knew this. But, they would make sure that the Zerg pay, and pay dearly for every death.

Felix grinned savagely as his auto cannon tore through the thinly armoured Zerg infantry. The explosive 20mm shells tore great chunks of meat and flesh from the charging Zerg. The survivors were quickly cut down by accurate Impaler fire from the surviving Marines.

"LT! LOOK OUT!"

Felix turned his head, his machine following his movement, just in time to watch as an Infested dodged through the Marines and then leap at him. Time slowed as the abomination flew at him, its malformed arms stretching out towards him. In that moment, Felix knew he was going to die.

CRACK!

The leaping Infested's head snapped back in a spray of blood. Felix turned quickly in surprise as Ghost Captain Kim Possible leapt out from behind the rock that she had been using as cover. Nineteen Marines and two Ghosts quickly followed behind her and then efficiently took up positions on the wavering lines.

"What's the sitch, Felix? Where's Stoppable?"

Felix took a moment to shake off the fear that just a scant moment ago had squeezed his heart… and his bladder. "Our 'sitch' is not good. Our COM's are down, and Stoppable's wounded. What's more, the Infested are pushing hard and don't seem to want to give up until every single one of us is dead. In lame man terms ma'am, we're FUBAR'ed."

The Captain nodded, not bothering to look up from her scope as each squeeze of the trigger brought death to a target. "The COMs are down because of Defilers in the area. They're realising some sort of spore that's blocking our transmissions. A med-evac should also be arriving shortly. We'll get the wounded out of here."

"That's good. But what about the Defilers?" Felix asked. He quickly took an opportunity to vent his anger as he diced an Infested into large chunks of meat with a short burst of his auto cannons.

"Don't worry Renton, Mankey and the others should be finishing up with them right now."

--

Shego took a quick glance at the map that Major Load had provided her. The Major had been right; when he told Princess that the Zerg in the area had moved on, her squad had only met a couple of Zerglings and a single Hydralisk. Not that she or any of the others were complaining.

Carefully, Shego scrutinized the area. Her hard green eyes scanned the rocky, ash coloured ground. That was the problem with the Zerg; when they burrowed, it was almost impossible to find the entrances unless you had either had powerful heat detectors or seismic scanners.

A blast of lava illuminated the area for a single second. Out of the corner of her eye, Shego saw it. It was faint, but a small patch of earth shone a slightly different colour then the rocky grey that surrounded it.

"There you are, you fucker," Shego thought triumphantly. With a quick gesture of her hand, she pointed out the patch to the Firebat who had accompanied them. The man nodded, and slowly moved to his target. The rest of the squad surrounded the burrow, and sighted down their sights as Shego gave the eager Firebat a quick nod.

The Firebat slammed his boot down on to the entrance of the burrow, shattering the disguised entrance and exposing the hole. Leaping back, the twin flamethrowers lit up the dark murky sky as the violent, oily flames, plunged down the pit. A short moment later, the enraged Defiler burst from its hole, screaming as fire licked at its hide and boiled its carapace. It desperately flopped around in a vain attempt to put the flames out.

The four Marines lifted up their rifles, but were stopped by Shego's curt order.

"Let it burn."

The bug twitched as its muscles expanded and cooked. Finally, it died. Its smouldering corpse now crisped and blackened by the terrifying weapon.

--

Second Ghost Lieutenant Josh Mankey's method of dealing with the Defiler was not as brutal as Shego's, nor was it as precise. Instead of burning the bug with a flamethrower, Josh merely unclipped a grenade from his belt, and tossed it near the hidden entrance of the Defiler's burrow. The angered centipede-like creature soon burst from its hole, only to be riddled with Impaler rounds which tore the creature limb from limb. Soon, the ash covered ground was soaked in red hot blood.

--

Ghost Sergeant Yori Soruchi's method was much more refined then either of her comrade's. Though Yori tossed a grenade near the entrance of the hidden burrow much like how Josh had done, she -instead of riddling the bug with shots as Josh's squad had done or setting the angered creature a blaze like Shego's troops- took a different approach.

Leaping cloaked from her hiding spot, she landed on the foul creatures back. The Defiler was surprised to say the least. It struggled and flopped around in an effort to get the unseen weight off of its back. Holding on to the Zerg with one arm wrapped around its neck, Yori drew her knife and with one deft motion, slammed the ten inch blade between the Defilers eyes. The Defiler spasmed once, and then collapsed in a still heap, dead.

--

The med-evac had arrived several minutes after Kim and her squad had reinforced Renton's beleaguered force. It had only taken the medics aboard the ship less then five minutes to get both the wounded men and Ron aboard, and prepped for take off. But, in that time three medics and four Marines had been either killed or wounded by Infested fire.

Kim breathed a sigh of relief as the drop-ship lifted off and sped away. Now that was one last thing that she and her men had to worry about. Unfortunately, that still left the problems with the COM's, and the Zerg were still pressing hard. No matter how many they killed, the Infested still attacked. It was if their numbers were unlimited.

Suddenly, her COM came to life. Wade's picture flickered into view. "Finally! It looks like the Defilers have been dealt with. Kim, just hold on a little longer. Backup is on its way."

"Wade, that's the best damn news I've heard all day! How long 'til we're reinforced?"

"We should be above you right...about…now."

"We? Above you?" Kim asked herself. Wade's message became clear when a Marine shouted excitedly and then pointed to the sky.

Kim gasped as the _DSS Dawn Ascension_ broke through the ash coloured sky. The large battlecruiser passed slowly over head, before stopping above Kim's battle-line. It was majestically blocking out the sunlight with its dark, steel grey hull.

The foreword batteries then opened up. Dozens of burning hot laser beams, cable of slicing through Protoss capital ship armour with ease, crashed into Char's barren surface. For twenty minutes, the _Dawn_ continued to bombard the enemy's position. Kim knew that the heat would be so intense, that not even the Infested who buried under ground would be spared from the man made firestorm. Then, one by one, the batteries fell silent as a deep, blood red glow quickly enveloped the sky. The _Dawn_ was charging its most lethal weapon; the Yamato Cannon. Finally, the great burst of energy was released towards its target. The blast's passage sent shock waves that caused avalanches as loose rocks were shaken from the faces of the ridges obscuring the gully. Bits of crystallised dust from the ground was momentarily uplifted and suspended in the air before falling as the hellish energies impacted its target with a thunderous BOOM.

Wade's smiling face flickered back to life on her HUD. "Well, that should solve your Zerg problems, eh Captain?"

Kim could only nod in stunned agreement. When the dust had cleared, the ground had a bright, glossy sheen to it as the ash -and any Infested caught in the blasts- had been melted into glass.

"Hold on Kim, I got an incoming transmission from the _Aleksander_. I think its DuGalle, wanting a mission update. Here, I'll patch you through."

In an instant, the young cheerful face of Major Wade Load changed into the stern and sombre gaze of Fleet Admiral DuGalle. "Report Captain. Have you found the missing platoon?"

Kim nodded. "Yes, sir. Unfortunately, the entire platoon was killed by Infested Terrans."

DuGalle nodded. "I've received reports of Infested in your area Captain, and unfortunately, they're proving to be a danger to the 417th Armoured Regiment's advance on the Overmind. We've located several strange signals just north of your position. That's where, we believe, these Infested are originating from. Captain, I want you and your taskforce to destroy those bases and secure the 417th's right flank."

"Yes, sir!" Kim saluted, as DuGalle's image vanished. "Alright, you heard the man. We'll wait for Charlie and Bravo Company here, and then we'll take the fight to the Zerg and see how they like it when we're the ones putting bullets through their skulls!"

A rousing cheer came from the surviving members of Delta Company.

After everything that they had survived, after every horror the Zerg had thrown at them, they still cheered. Now, now they were itching for payback.

"Payback," Kim shivered as a cold premonition took a hold of her. She had a feeling that many here would not live to see it.


	10. The Patients

Well, here is the newest instalment of Brood War! Hurray!

Thanks to my Beta Shockwave88 for his skills in turning my unrefined crap into something actually worth reading. I would also like to thank the reviews for their continued support, and I would like to take this time to inform them that finally I have a plot for this story.

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* * *

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The Brood War:

_Chapter 10: The Patients _

The _DSS Dawn Ascension_ was not a modern vessel, at least, not modern by the usual standards of the United Earth Directorate. But, to the backwater colonial yokels that made up much of the Dominion (as well as its predecessor, the Confederacy,) the _Dawn_ was at least forty years ahead of their current level of technology. Well, ten years ahead if you discounted the upgrades and the refitting the _Dawn_ went through before it joined the UED expedition to the Koprulu Sector.

With the careful crafting and eventual mass production of the new state of the art '_Conqueror_' class of battlecruisers such as the _Aleksander, _the UED now had close to several hundred battlecruisers rendered obsolete. Most, such as the '_Challenger_' and '_Warrior_' class of battlecruisers, were upgraded with new weaponry, engines and command and control systems. Even older battlecruisers such as the _Dawn _however, were scheduled for decommissioning and salvaging. Fortunately for her and her crew, the UED council decided now was the time for those in the Koprulu Sector to rejoin the UED, the new incarnation of the United Powers League. However, with most of the _Conqueror_ class battlecruisers either still in production or incorporated into the Home Fleet, there were just not enough ships to attempt such a large expedition.

The UED council unanimously and immediately ordered that the older classes of battlecruisers, such as the _Dawn,_ be immediately retrofitted with both newer engines and weaponry. It took seven weeks in dry dock and round the clock work to get the _Dawn_ combat ready; her outdated, AD-17 laser batteries were replaced with newer, more powerful DT-9 guns. Her ancient Forgerson-F2400 warp engines were replaced with the newer Mars Foundation X2500 series and as the final coup de grâce, the _Dawn_ was outfitted with the fearsome Yamato Cannon.

Now, here she was.

The _Dawn_ was doing what she had been created to do: mercilessly obliterate enemies into sweet oblivion.

With every blast, her bridge lit up with harsh and fiery red light cast off from her massive guns. The ashen world below burned with every salvo, and as their foul bodies were consumed by the raging fire, their distorted flesh, bones and muscle were near instantly burned into to ash and then melted into glass by the holocaust of fire and flame.

What was once a horde of Infested were now unrecognisable lumps of ground, fragile crystal.

For the first time in her career, Captain Bonnie Rockwaller had seen first hand the destructive power of a UED battlecruiser.

If some one had told a younger Bonnie Rockwaller that by the age of twenty-seven, she would be an officer in the UED navy in charge of a battlecruiser and fighting in a war thousands of light-years from her home in Nova Middleton, she would have suggested in some very unsavoury terms that someone should get their head examined. The self proclaimed Queen B of Nova Middleton High, and cheer-squad captain, was destined for better things in life. Bonnie Rockwaller was going to be a ballerina.

Indeed, with fourteen solid and intense years of ballet practice behind her, how could she be anything else? Let Lonnie have her modelling career, or Connie with her law cases. Bonnie would show them, yes she would. Every time her bitch sisters opened a paper or turned on the news, it would be **her** face they saw in the entertainment sections. It would be her, Bonnie Rockwaller, who would become the talk of Nova Middleton.

At least, that was what she wanted before her father was killed.

Admiral Donald "Donnie" Rockwaller had loved his daughters, and had taken every opportunity to dote upon them. But, as his children had grown older, there was always an air of disappointment about him because none of them wanted to follow in his foot steps. Neither Connie, Lonnie nor Bonnie, for that matter, had any interest in joining the UED Naval Academy. But, that was before her father's transport had been destroyed by a separatist faction's bomb nine years ago. Bonnie Rockwaller had always been her daddy's little girl, and she had taken her father's death extremely hard. Three weeks after the funeral, she had dried her tears, given up on her dreams of becoming a ballerina star and had applied to the UED Naval Academy.

What had followed was four years of gruellingly intensive studying involving naval doctrine and theory, navigation, history and engineering. Everything that Bonnie had loved was put off to the side in favour of the school and her studies. Ballet, which had once taken up four to five hours a day just for practice, was now just a quick twenty or thirty minute session and that was only so Bonnie could stay in shape. She was determined that she would do her late father proud, and if that required her to sacrifice what she loved doing the most, then so be it.

Finally, her graduation day arrived. Dressed in a carefully pressed black uniform with her peak cap resting lightly on her straight, short brown hair, Bonnie had marched up to the intimidating podium and saluted the Admiral overseeing the ceremony. The Admiral proudly returned the salute before handing Bonnie her gold braided lieutenant-commander insignia: the reward for being amongst the top five of her class.

Bonnie's first post was aboard the _DSS Harbinger_, a medium weight gunship that was on patrol in the UED's Alpha Centauri System. There, Bonnie served with distinction and under the recommendation of the _Harbinger's_ captain, was promoted to Commander just a scant year later. Bonnie was then put in charge of her own ship, the _DSS Prosecutor._ Her patrol was the lawless Tau Ceti System, where the UED's presence and control was not as substantial as the council would have liked.

Several times her ship had been attacked by pirates, and through those baptisms of fire Bonnie had proved herself to be a capable commander. Something that had not gone unnoticed by her superiors. For two years Bonnie, and the _Prosecutor_, had ruthlessly hunted the pirates and smugglers down when suddenly she was recalled back to Earth. She could hardly believe her ears when she was told that she was to be given a promotion...and a new command. Her new command was the newly outfitted battlecruiser, the _DSS Dawn Ascension_.

Now, here she was, standing on the bridge of the _Ascension _with her hands clasped tightly behind her back and with her silver captain's insignia reflecting the harsh light of the laser guns as she observed the bombardment. Behind her, her crew worked both furiously and methodically as they checked coolant rates, analysed data from the computers and constantly checked and rechecked the sensor output. Others manned the point defence guns and the long ranged sensors, determined not to have the Zerg sneak up on them.

"Tell me Johnston," Captain Rockwaller asked curiously as she turned to the Commander, "just what are the chances that there are any Zerg left alive down there?"

Commander Alex Johnston was an older man whose career had been spent on the _Ascension_, and although sometimes it disturbed him slightly that his superiors seemed to getting younger and younger, he had a good feeling about this captain. Sure, she was vicious, snarky, bossy, sarcastic, and just a little mean spirited, but she was determined. Determined to be both a good officer and a good captain and he respected that.

The Commander simply shrugged as he joined his captain at the view port. "Slim to none I would say, Captain. We've been giving them hell for a good twenty minutes now."

Bonnie nodded before turning to her XO, a grin spreading upon her lips. It was a sweet, innocent grin...a grin that had became famous in Nova Middleton High because it had foretold the social down fall of dozens of students and social equals. It was the grin of Nova Middleton High's Queen B.

"Forward batteries cease fire. Charge the Yamato Cannon and lock targeting coordinates on ground zero. I want to see what this baby can do."

The Gunnery Lieutenant nodded as he glanced up from his control panel. "Aye, aye Captain. Batteries are ceasing fire, diverting power to the Yamato Cannon. Charging… now!"

The bridge was filled with an eerily faint, blood red glow as the massive Yamato Cannon slowly built up the energy it required from the ships reactor. Behind Bonnie, technical experts checked the coolant temperatures and monitored them carefully.

"Don't you think that's overkill, Captain?"

Bonnie's teal green eyes, for just a split second, darted to her XO as he both asked her the question as he leaned over peer out of the view port.

Bonnie's grin never faded as she answered him. "There is no such thing as overkill Commander. There is...just being cautious."

"Captain! The Yamato Cannon is charged, and ready."

Bonnie's smile finally vanished as she turned to the young Lieutenant. "Thank you Guns," she answered simply, "you are clear to fire."

"Yes, ma'am. Yamato Cannon, firing in three…two…one…warhead away!"

The whole bridge was suddenly illuminated to a peak with harsh blood red light as the massive ball of planet searing energy was launched. As it travelled further away, the glow on the bridge receded until things were back to normal lighting. The powerful blast slammed into the ground with a tremendous boom and broken pieces of melted glass filled the air, reflecting what little light Char offered off of the shards, before falling to the ground in a shower of sparkling rain.

Bonnie again turned to her XO, her lips already pulled back up into a smile. A smile, the Commander believed, that would have not of looked misplaced upon a great white shark. "Well, Commander?" Bonnie asked sweetly, "What do you think the odds are now that any Infested mother fucker could have survived that?"

The XO stroked his rust coloured beard as his mind quickly analysed the data. "I would say Captain, that there is simply nothing in this galaxy that could have survived down there. They're dead, plain and simple."

Bonnie nodded at the older man. "Then our work here is done. Helms! Take us back into orbit; preferably before the Zerg decide to send some of those fucking Scourges after us. I'd rather not be blown to bits with my ship just right now."

"Aye, aye Captain! Taking us back into orbit now," her helmsman acknowledged.

The crew felt the deck move slightly beneath them as the _Ascension_'s engines ignited into full burn and slowly pushed the gigantic ship back through the thin atmosphere into space. The ash, debris and dust that had filled both sky and the view port was slowly replaced with the black, near emptiness of the star sprayed void.

"We have reached orbit, ma'am."

Bonnie nodded at the helmsman. "Excellent, hold this position until we're ordered to be rejoined with the fleet. Commander Johnston, you have the bridge. I'm retiring to my cabin, and tell the chief medical officer I want to see her immediately."

"Yes ma'am."

With that, Bonnie turned on her heel, and quickly marched off of the bridge. Long gray halls and multiple corridors passed her by as her boots made a rhythmic thump on the cold steel deck plating. Bonnie occasionally encountered crew members and armed marines on her short journey, and she almost lazily returned their salutes when she passed them or when they passed her.

Finally, she reached her destination. Punching in her security code, the metal door slid open to reveal a spacious and well furnished cabin.

Sighing tiredly to herself, Bonnie immediately walked over to her coffee maker. The near antique machine was an old friend of hers; many sleepless nights of studying had been accomplished thanks to the warm, black ambrosia that was dispensed at the push of a button. Pouring herself a cup, Bonnie sat at her desk and began the paperwork that smothered the surface. Oh, how she detested this part! Bonnie had enough homework during high school, and when she was at the Academy she had enough to last her a life time. But now, now the paper work never seemed to end!

A knock on the door, however, gave a grateful Bonnie the excuse she'd needed to escape the paper work horrors of the UED.

"Come in," Bonnie ordered, breathing a sigh of relief that the dreaded paper work could be held off for another hour or two. The door slid open, and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Zita Flores quickly walked in. Her white doctors coat hung openly off of her shoulders, revealing the black pressed uniform that she was wearing beneath.

"You wanted to see me _Capitan_?" Zita asked as she stopped in front of the desk.

Bonnie gestured for the doctor to take a seat. "Yes, I did. Coffee?"

"_Por favor_."

Bonnie reached back and poured another steaming cup. She handed it to Zita, who took it with a nod of thanks.

"Tell me Dr. Flores, how's the patient doing?"

Zita was not surprised; the 'patient' was all the crew seemed to want to talk about. And it was with good reason; it was not everyday that a crew member went insane and attempted to kill two to three dozen people by causing a breach in the hull.

"She seems to be doing much better, _Capitan_. She recognized me today, and even complimented me on my hair."

The doctor then sighed and looked into the cup thoughtfully for a few moments, "But, then she voiced a desire to…cut it off, and then strangle me with it."

Bonnie nodded as she sat back in her chair. It was strange. Very strange. She had of course read the patient's file; nothing in it had suggested that she was capable of this level of what was essentially senseless violence.

"I see…" Bonnie replied thoughtfully. "Well doc', what the diagnosis then?"

Zita sighed as she leaned back in her seat. She took a sip of coffee before setting the cup back down. "Well…I would say that she's suffering from paranoid schizophrenia…but, it…it's not what she's suffering from. The patient has dissociative identity disorder. It's the only explanation that I can think of."

"Doctor," Bonnie replied flatly, "I'm not a med-student. What the hell is a desictive identity disorder?"

Zita shook her head. "Dis-soc-iat-ive identity disorder _Capitan_. It means that she displays multiple identities or personalities...alter egos if you will, that have their own way of perceiving and identifying reality."

Bonnie sighed; the medical terms were giving her a headache. "In English, if you please doctor."

"The patient is suffering from a multiple personality disorder."

Bonnie shook her head. "Now why couldn't you have just said that?"

Zita shrugged. "What has me stumped _Capitan_, is that there is no concrete evidence of anyone developing MPD naturally. In reality, MPD is just holo-vid drama..."

Zita trailed off as she went into deep thought. "Well, there have been cases where a patient that's undergone a neural procedure…"

Upon seeing, and hearing the angry glare and growl of the captain, Zita quickly rephrased herself. "Uh…cases where a patient's undergone what the local residents here call a 'brain panning'...and it backfired, essentially creating dual personalities inside a persons mind."

Bonnie nodded: now she understood where Zita was coming from. "Brain Panning", as it was called by the Koprulu Sector residents, was the process of suppressing a person's real personality, and then reshaping it by layering new and artificial 'memories' over the old ones. Thus, this process could be used to either create a whole new person or just add in or alter a few select memories.

"The only problem, _Capitan_," Zita continued, "is that I cannot find any evidence in the patient's file of this 'brain panning' or any other neural procedure."

"So…what do you think caused her to become like this?" Bonnie asked, after taking a large swig of her now cool coffee.

Zita sighed in frustration. "Normally _Capitan_, I would say that something happened during cryosleep, that it didn't put her mind fully asleep when the fleet entered Warp travel, which would cause a tremendous amount of stress to her mind…the problem is that, I've never heard of Warp stress causing multiple personality disorders before."

"So doc, what do you think should be done?"

Zita pinched the bridge of her nose as she let out a frustrated sigh. "I don't know _Capitan_. Normally, I would suggest euthanasiation. It's fairly obvious that Tiamat, as she's taken to call herself, is a psychopath, and would have no regrets or moral qualms on killing anybody who gets in her way, or just happens to be around. The trouble is, is that I don't want to do that just yet. _Por favor Capitan _justgive me a few more days to observe her."

Zita looked Bonnie in the eyes. "_Capitan_, I need to figure out what happened, so I can keep this from happening again."

Bonnie was silent for a while as she weighed the options in her mind. Several seconds ticked by slowly before she nodded. "Okay doc, you've got three days. If you can't figure out what the hell is going on then, we'll just have to settle with putting her down."

"_Gracias, Capitan_."

With that, Zita quickly downed what was left in her cup, stood up, saluted and then quickly walked out of Bonnie's cabin.

Sighing dejectedly, Bonnie picked up her pen and then began to read through the many forms that lay piled on her desk.

'_Do to the insufficient amount currently available, engineering is requesting more Requisition Forms…' _

Bonnie groaned. It was going to be a very long night.

* * *

Sealed off from the rest of the infirmary was the psyche ward. Every ship had them, and the _Dawn_ was no exception. Battle stress and fatigue understandably had a habit of ruining both a soldier's sanity and mental health. Currently, only one of the rooms was occupied…a figure huddled in the corner, wrapped in a neopolymer straight jacket and talking to herself as she rocked back and forth on her heels.

"You know they have absolutely no right to do this to us! After everything we did for them! You'd think they'd be a little more appreciative! It's not easy doing what we do. Nope not easy at all!"

Quickly, her voiced changed. It was no longer harsh, hissing and unforgiving. It was now light, happy and innocent as the other side took control. "They're only doing this because they're worried. Not just about us, but about themselves. They're worried that we might do something to hurt them."

The harsh tone came back. "Oh I'll do something to hurt them. I'll tear their guts out with a rusty carving knife; I'll shove 'em out an airlock; I'll carve out their hearts with spoon and then feed it to them!"

The happy tone took over. "But why a spoon?"

"Because it'll hurt more! Why do I have to live with such a simpleton?! You would think that my other half would understand the concept of torture, but _nooooooo_!"

"But why do we have to hurt them? They've done nothing wrong!"

"Because they locked us in here, you stupid idiot!" The harsh tone snapped back.

"Well…why don't we just tell the Admiral then? The Admiral will intervene on our behalf. Especially after all the things you told me that you've done for them?"

"Naïve little idiot. _Why don't we go tell on them, for being mean and locking us away in the psyche ward?_" The harsh tone mocked its better half. "No, don't you understand? What they've done to us must be paid back in blood. Every living thing on this fuckin' ship has to die! And I tell ya, the bloodier our vengeance is, the sweeter it will be!"

"But…but..." The nice one stuttered.

"Spit it out you little shit!"

"I don't want to hurt anyone!"

For some reason, the harsh one found this hilarious. _"But I don't wanna hurt anyone!"_ The harsh tone mocked. "You stupid little fuck! That's why I'm strong! That's why I'm in charge. Because I don't give a shit about who I kill…That's why I was chosen…and you better get used to it, understand?"

"Yes…" the nice side sobbed, before bursting into tears. She continued sobbing for several minutes, as the dark presence in her mind gloried in her misery.

Finally the harsh tone came back, laughing hysterically as she both plotted and schemed. "Soon these mother fuckers will know why I'm called Tiamat…first it will be that dumb spick and then the little bitch whose flying this tub…after that…who knows? I guess I'll just have to enjoy myself!"

* * *

The medical transport bumped and shook as Char's unpredictable, thermal induced winds buffered it from side to side. Inside, the wounded men who were conscious groaned in pain and agony, each envying those who were unconscious. Medics hurriedly rushed back and forth, patching up wounds via attenuated lasers, changing IV cartridges and administered various drug cocktails to the injured.

The realm of the unconscious is often black. Black as pitch in the dark of night. Nothing is seen, nor felt, nor even dreamed. But in the mind of one marine, he did dream...and he shuddered at what he saw.

_Two figures, their faces silhouetted in the flames of a burning building laughed uproariously as their automatic weapons cut down those who tried to escape the fires. Men, women, children…it didn't matter to these monsters. Monsters void of all pity, all mercy, all humanity._

_The unconscious marine cringed as a young woman carrying a baby was cut down by a merciless hail of bullets. The baby's cries of terror were cut short by another burst of automatic fire._

"_No witnesses, no survivors, Fenris. Or don't you remember our orders?" A dark and mysterious feminine voice informed her companion._

"_Of course Tiamat, I was just saving that one for you. You __**are**__ behind in the kill count; I thought I would let you catch up," the one called Fenris answered his companion._

_For several minutes the two monsters watched the building burn. No more people came running out to try and escape the blaze. _

"_Well…our job's done. Call the Admiral."_

_The one called Tiamat smiled as she reached a hand over to stroke Fenris' face. "But my dear, that fire got me all hot and bothered now…how about you help me with that?"_

_Smiling seductively, Tiamat reached her hand down. "Oh my, Fenris! It seems to have gotten you too!"_

_Her face kept her smile as she slowly lowered herself to her knees, playing with the lower areas of Fenris' polymer stealth suit. "Let me see if I can help you with that!"_

_Slowly, the dream shifted and changed. A room full of sleeping figures...young figures. Children._

_'What now!?' The marine thought in horror. _

_His answer soon came, as the door to the dormitory slowly opened. A young boy, no more then ten, slowly crept into the room with a piece of barbed wire was wrapped around his hand. Slowly, the young boy crept towards a young girl who clutched her pillow as if it were a shield between her and the horrors that haunted her dreams._

_As he crept, the boy slowly unwrapped the barbed wire. He stretched it tight between his fists. Then with a swift, deft movement, the boy wrapped the wire around the girl's throat and pulled it tight. The girl awoke, silently gasping for breath as she struggled and clawed at the wire. Quickly getting desperate and urgently needing to draw in a life saving breath, she tried to focus her mind to kill her soon to be murderer. The boy however, would not be denied. To her shock, the girl quickly discovered that her adversary was dampening her psionic training with his own mind!_

_Slowly, slowly the girl's gasps for breath became weaker and weaker. Her flailing and clawing slowed, and then stopped altogether as she collapsed, hanging limply in the boy's grasp. The boy kept the wire taunt for a few minutes longer, and then dropped the dead girl back onto her bed. To make absolutely sure that his target was eliminated, he reached over, tenderly cupped the side of her now limp head and jaw, and then twisted hard. Satisfied, he slowly crept out. The only evidence he left behind was the dead girl, and the piece of wire wrapped around her throat._

The craft bounced and shook as the marine screamed in his dreams, trying to claw his way out of the murder and horror. He was unaware that outside of his troubled mind, his body slept peacefully with his wounds being attended to and his IV cartridge being frequently changed.

* * *

Glass crunched beneath Kim's boot, as she surveyed the area. Green eyes scanned the desolate battlefield, as drop ships reinforced the battered remains of Delta Company. Men pooled mag's as Goliath pilots went over last minute diagnostics to make sure that their machines, their 'babies' were combat ready.

Kim knew a hard fight lay ahead of them, but the men of Task Force Golf Juliette had proven themselves time after time again. She knew that they would put an end to the threat presented by the Infested. She knew it would be because of them, that the UED would carry the day and put an end to the Zerg once and for all.

Glass crunching beneath armoured feet quickly caught her attention. Spinning around, with her rifle lowered, Kim was ready to put a hole through anything that tried to sneak up on her or her men.

However, a shout of "Tree!" stopped Kim in her tracks. Smiling in relief, Kim quickly shouted back the response.

"Oak!"

Ghost Lieutenant Mankey and his patrol stepped out from behind the boulders they had used for cover. Kim waved at them before they hurried across the plain of glass to meet up with her.

"Damn it Josh, you almost got yourself shot. What the hell were you thinking?!"

Josh smiled as he shrugged. "Sorry Kim, I didn't know what to expect when we got back here, so I decided to remain cautious. Isn't that what I'm always telling you? You got to always prepare for the worst, even when you expect the best?"

Kim had no answer for that. What Josh said had made sense, as it usually did. In the many years she had known him, he had never once taken an unnecessary risk.

"Risks get peopled killed," Josh often said. "It's far better to have a plan, then a back up plan, then an emergency plan, then a 'oh shit, were fucked!' plan, than to just say 'well here we go' and hope for the best."

Josh smiled at Kim as he took in the sight of the now silent battlefield around him. "Besides, I should be the one complaining here Kim. What the hell happened here?"

"C'mon Josh, get your men up that ridge: we're about to make our final push. So grab some ammo and a bite to eat. We're moving out in twenty. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

The shout from both he and the marines was unanimous as they quickly scaled the ridge of cracked glass to follow her orders. As Josh glanced down at the Captain whom was moving over to talk with a lingering Medic, he couldn't get his mind off how beautiful and sexy she was when she got like this as he climbed.

Though he never regretted breaking up with her, he still could not help but remember the fun times that they had together. _The times when they were locked in each others passionate embrace, his hands caressing her bare flesh, while his mouth kissed her neck, sending tingles of pleasure down her spine, or how she would slowly grind her pelvis against his, making Josh wanting to scream out in pleasure and joy__..._

"Alright people, listen up!"

The captain's voice snapped Josh out of his pleasant dreams and memories and back into the reality that was this war. Josh blinked and looked down at her from one of the ridge outcroppings.

"Two klicks away, the Zerg have a base. Recon' has shown us that the Zerg have built a Hive Cluster around an old Confederate mining base. That base is the one that has been pumping out the Infested mother fuckers that have been attacking us! Those Infested that have killed our friends, our brothers and our comrades. We will carve our way through them, and we will show them **no** mercy as we cut out their beating hearts and show those pieces of shit what war really is! Do you hear me!?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"I SAID, DID YOU HEAR ME!?"

"YES MA'AM!"

Kim smiled, as every man and woman down there answered her with a rousing cheer.

She then quickly scaled the ridge so that she was once again amongst her men.

"Good! Then let's get going!"


End file.
